Disclaimer: I still don't own anything of value which of course includes the chars in this story. They all belong to Kishimoto-san who also owns the world of Konoha. So I have to get by without a maid or a personal cook to clean my kitchen up for me.

Hubby: Now you want a cook too. Man, it was bad enough when you only wanted a maid or two.

Disclaimer: Stop complaining unless you want to walk into the kitchen and see the mess those Brats you call tax write-offs left for you to clean up.

Hubby: . . . Uh. . . I think I'll pass.

Disclaimer: Smart man. I knew there was a reason I married you.

Chapter Seventeen: Team Seven Remnants

Sakura was doing genin level work and she hated it but she knew she deserved it so she kept her complaints to herself as she weeded the old woman's garden for her. She missed Naruto's clones that had made boring jobs like this go so much faster but it was her own fault. She had heard the Sand Trio were in town but wasn't too surprised that no one had made an effort to invite her to a get-together with them. They were very fond of Naruto and with what she'd just learned about herself, they couldn't be that crazy about her right now. She remembered how she'd seen Naruto in the tower. First under the window looking like a wild man and then in the window beside Jiraiya-sama. He'd been groomed that time but his eyes had caught her attention both times. She hadn't thought about what she'd seen in them but they'd stayed with her. His eyes had been so peaceful that first time but so empty. She'd seen nothing of the Naruto she knew in there. Shishui had warned her to stay away from him but she hadn't listened. She really had been full of herself. So sure she was the only one who could help him. So sure all he needed was direction from her. What a joke! She thought back to the tower meeting where she'd boasted her skills and being better, stronger than Naruto. Now she knew the only reason she'd done that was to impress Sasuke but he hadn't been impressed because he knew it wasn't true. Sasuke didn't like lies. She remembered him laughing at her when she'd asked him what had to be the stupidest question of the age. She groaned in mortification. Tugging on a stubborn weed she noticed the old woman coming out with a glass and a pitcher of lemonade.

"Dearie, you have been working hard and I thought you might like to refresh yourself a little," she said. "Come sit in the shade and share a drink with me." The woman led her over to a small table under the spreading branches of an old apple tree.

Sakura gave the woman a gentle smile before accepting the glass of slightly tart juice. She sighed as she sat back trying not to get lost in her thoughts again. Tsunade's Aunt, several times removed, just watched. She knew why the girl was weeding her garden. After all, she had used her bloodline talent and small amount of chakra to make the weeds grow just so the girl would have a job to do. The Hokage had felt it wasn't right for her apprentice to take jobs away from deserving genins because she was being punished and she agreed. So they had cooked this plot up. The girl would find herself trimming hedges and weeding and mowing and picking and anything else the two of them could come up with until she'd finally learned.

Now she just said, "Want to talk about it? Seems you have a problem on your mind."

Sakura shook her head. "It's something I need to work out on my own. I managed to mess things up pretty well all by myself so I should find my own way out."

The old woman cackled and said, "Ah to be young again. The young always think they have to do everything alone but although messes are easy to make, atoning for them isn't so easy."

Sakura smiled. "I know." She held out a hand towards the garden and the other towards her missing vest. "But I will do it because I deserve it. I know that I have messed up and I know how. Now I must just find a way to make amends. Doing these chores will help me remember what I used to know but they won't make what I did right. Nothing will be enough to do that."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Why don't you tell me what you did and we'll see?"

"I hurt someone. Very badly. He never did anything to ever hurt me but I was always hurting him until finally I went too far. I may never get the chance to set things right with him. I know I don't deserve to but . . . I can't help but want to try."

The old woman nodded and they finished their drinks in silence. As she rose to go back inside she said, "Sometime we don't realize what we had until it is gone. Someone else has it and we can't get it back."

Softly Sakura whispered, "I know. I guess I just never realized how much I had changed into the very monster he was always being accused of being. I don't like this person I've become. Somehow I have to change back to who I was before." She didn't specify even in the sanctuary of her own mind just when before was as she stood up and began the tedious job of pulling the tenacious weeds from their positions of entangling and strangling the tender roots of common vegetables.

Across town Sasuke was trying to find out where Naruto was staying and having no luck. He'd trailed after the Sand Trio figuring one of them would lead him there but they must have seen his bushins because Temari took him on a round-a-bout trip to the field where Shikamaru was cloud watching with his best friend Chouji. Kankuro had led him around the marketplace for hours before heading back to their hotel room clutching his stupid puppet parts. And Gaara just turned around on a side street and crushed the bushin he'd had trailing him. Then he'd vanished before Sasuke could get to his location. So now he was randomly wandering around hoping to catch a glimpse of bright red or yellow hair.

Fan-girls had pretty much disappeared for him but there were still a few die-hards he had to deal with. In a strange way seeing them was reassuring but that didn't mean he liked them. He'd considered using that joke card Naruto had given him when he turned twelve to dissuade them but tempting as it was, he might just need one of them someday. The card claimed the owner was gay and he'd thought of leaving it laying, oh so accidently, right side up near a street facing window. But if he ever broke up with Sakura, or if she didn't get pregnant soon, then he might find it hard getting rid of the label. He frowned as he saw a fan-girl on a corner ahead obviously looking for him. He immediately turned and walked away never knowing just how close he'd come to finding his target.

Behind him the supposed fan-girl smirked and poofed into an anbu guard. Her whole job in being on that corner was to prevent him from finding his target. She reported his presence to her fellows and they all went on high alert. They wouldn't let Naruto know about it but they would make sure his caregivers knew the Kazekage had been trailed.

Sasuke meanwhile followed a trail into the forest and went to find a clearing where he could vent his rage and disappointment on the harmless trees and rocks. Half an hour later the clearing was destroyed.

Why wouldn't the Dobe want to see him? It made no sense. They'd always tested each other. Ever since he'd come to realize the dead last was only dead last in the classroom. They'd both grown and developed their abilities off of each other.

He had surprised himself when he'd been sitting in the tree trying to decide whether to go to Orochimaru for training. It hadn't been Sakura or Kakashi he'd thought of. No. It was a perky smile and a head full of blond spikes and two crystal clear blue eyes. Those eyes were so full of trust and they believed in him.

In the end he'd left because he couldn't let him down. He had to get stronger so he could keep his promise. He had to show those eyes that he could keep his word. He'd already known Kakashi had nothing more to teach him. He'd already learned everything he was going to in Konoha unless he waited for the Dobe to learn a new technique and copied it from him. But that could take years. So he had left.

Sakura had tried to stop him and he'd thanked her for stiffening his resolve to go before leaving her knocked out on the bench for Anbu to find. He knew they'd find her before anything bad happened. Her appearance had just reminded him that there were more positive reasons to go than there were to stay. He knew the Dobe wouldn't let him go without a fight. The Dobe was great at fighting but not so good at thinking. That's why whenever he did say something smart it surprised everyone so much.

When they'd met at the Valley of the End he could honor his friend, his brother in all ways that mattered, no less but than to fight him with everything he had. Even so he knew the Dobe had pulled his last attack. He'd seen the scratch on his headband left behind by it and understood that if the Dobe had wanted him dead, he would be. The Dobe had let him go, trusting that this was something he had to do.

Part of him had wished, and still did wish, that he had also pulled his last punch. But he hadn't and doing so would have dishonored the only person he respected. So in a way he was glad he hadn't. He felt no dishonor that Naruto had. He'd known Naruto wouldn't kill him. To Kakashi it was a sign of his weakness but Sasuke knew better. It was simply that Naruto knew the difference between friend and enemy. No. It was different than that. Naruto knew the difference between those who fought for good things, like friends and family and those who fought for bad things. Simple sounding but not so simple to tell one from the other. Naruto could and would kill the bad but he would not, could not hurt the good any more than was necessary.

And so he had gone to the perverted snake man. He had studied hard. Learning everything the stupid Snake Sennin had thrown at him. Undergoing all of Kabuto's weird tests. Taking all the odd pills and smelly liquids. Some days he could barely stand but he'd fought on. And learned. And grown. Overcoming every obstacle. Until he was too strong. Until the day they came for him.

He'd known this was his last chance to go home. Home where his heart's brother lived and waited for him to return. He'd known he wouldn't have to face Itachi alone. Naruto would be with him. Fighting at his side to rid the world of a clan murderer. But first he had to save him. Save him from them. So he had fought. He'd tried to reach where he knew they'd be. Waiting for him. To trap him. To kill him.

But she had to interfere. She had to get in the way. And he was too late. They'd left him behind. No one understood he didn't want to come back then. He wanted to stay there. His family was there. But they made him leave him. They made him come back here. Here where there's nothing but ghosts. Shadows of people who left. Fragments of memories turned to dust. Overlaid with blood. This place had held nothing for him but yet, once he got here, he'd stayed. Where else could he go? His family was gone. The only family he cared about dead and gone. Left to die alone on a rubble covered field of broken stone and dreams.

But he came back. Against the odds, he was back. Why couldn't he see him? Why were they saying his brother didn't want to see him? Didn't want to spar with him? Didn't want anything to do with him? Why? Sasuke sat amidst the torn ground and thought.

Meanwhile Kakashi was patiently, he thought, scrubbing away a years worth of dust and grime from the Nidaime's stony countenance. Anko was gleefully pointing out each smudge and blemish even if she had caused it to be there in the first place. The little second-in-command of the interrogation department was really getting a belly full in her job as his jailor.

She had startled him awake, at five minutes past six, with a pitcher of sticky ice cold berry juice that had left strands of his hair and skin dyed an unbecoming purple no matter how may times he washed. He still had faint purple streaks running down his cheeks and across his forehead.

She threatened to take his mask away if he wasn't ready to go and in the livingroom in fifteen minutes. Needless to say Kakashi had never moved so fast in his life. She had led him to her favorite Dango shop where he'd bought her breakfast before they'd come here. He had never thought anyone could go through money on a simple meal as quickly as Naruto did in a ramen stand but Anko proved him wrong. She could eat as much Dango as Naruto could eat ramen.

He truly thought that the faster they got this done the faster he could back to his real life. He knew Tsunade-sama really hadn't meant for him to have no free time at all but Anko was sadistic in the extreme and she loved little fantasies like this. At least her snake wasn't here also. Wait a minute. Where was that scaly beast?

"Anko?" he questioned.

"Yes, Scum."

He narrowed his eye but bit his tongue against the automatic denial. "Where is that snake you had watching me last night?"

"Oh you mean her?" She pointed to an outcropping that helped to form the second's upper lip.

He glanced down and gulped. He had to quit that. He was going to give himself a sore throat if he kept gulping in fear all the time. But damn the women in this village were downright frightening. That stupid big scaly snake was right under his feet. His eye flew open wide and he drew his feet up toward his chest as the thing moved and raised it's head? tail? Well, one end to the place where he was hanging. He HATED snakes!

"What's she doing?" he screeched as she came higher and higher.

"Oh she's just going to teach you not to think she's stupid. And while she may be full grown she is not big. Her father is much larger than she is."

"Her father?" he questioned shakily as the snake wound around his shaking feet. "Please, Anko-san, call her off."

"Oh didn't I tell you she's Manda's daughter? He has a taste for people so if you aren't better behaved he might just decide you'll do as a tasty snack for upsetting his daughter."

"And Manda is bigger than she is?" His eye was practically bug-eyed now. . . permanently.

"Oh yes. He's a lot older than she is and he is after all the king summon for the snake contract. You didn't think he'd be small did you? After all you've seen Gamabunta and Tsunade's summon. How could you think the Snake King would be any smaller?"

"Oh I don't know," he responded trying for his normal cool and nonchalant expression. "Maybe because Pakkun is and he's the boss summons. Maybe because Naruto was telling us a tall tale about witnessing a three-way fight between the Sennins. Everyone knows that boy takes credit for things that aren't his doing." He was so busy keeping an eye on the snake he forgot to keep an eye on the snake mistress herself. So it was with total surprise that he found her up close and personal and in his face. Three small green snakes flew from the open ends of her sleeves towards his face and he shrieked in fear. They hovered in the air, poised less than an inch from his unprotected skin with their tongues flickering.

Angry black eyes glared into his one eyed and snarled, "I think you need to rethink every single thought you ever had about that boy before I truly show you how miserable of a person I find you to be. Tsunade-sama said I couldn't kill you but she said nothing about making you wish I had. Naruto is ten times the ninja you ever were and if he told you about that fight then he told you the truth."

"Oh come on now. There's no way he convinced her to come be the Hokage. No one, from her bloodline, in their right mind would turn it down. She came as soon as she was asked." It took courage but he returned her passionate gaze with as unconcerned yet scornful look as he could manage, despite the sweat running in a river down his face.

From on top of the monument Tsunade said, "Actually I thought anyone that wanted to become a Hokage was just stupid. I thought it was just a way of saying you were ready to die because that's all Hokage's get in the end anyway. No matter what the reason, the end is always the same."

"It took Naruto fighting against all odds, fresh out of the recuperating bed to show me why someone should take the job. That boy, with only three weeks in which to learn it, learned the Rasengan well enough to blast a hole in his opponents belly. If Kabuto hadn't had the regenerating abilities he did, he would have died there and then, to the hands of a mere twelve year old boy. Naruto gave me a reason to come home. He showed me a reason to become the Hokage. He shared his dream with me and gave me back my life. And you mock him. Because, after all, what have you ever done? What have you ever fought for? Been willing to die for knowing you could very well do just that? When was the last time you ever entered a battle you knew you couldn't win but fought it anyway because someone had to or people were going to die?"

"Naruto told you he gave me the will to come back here. He gave me part of his dream to be the Hokage for him. That's right I became the Hokage for him and for children like him. Children with a dream; a destiny to fulfill. I became the Hokage to protect them so that they might live to fulfill those dreams, those destinies. But what he didn't tell you was that if he hadn't jumped into that fight I would not have become the Hokage. I would have died then and there. Kabuto was preparing to kill me while I was frozen on the battlefield by the sight of my own blood. That Braggart, as you called him, jumped in front of me and freed me by slamming a rasengan into Kabuto. So yeah. That kid did exactly what he told you he did. He made me become the Hokage."

She turned to Anko and said, "Anyway Anko, I've been told to make sure you know about the celebration tonight in the Hobbled Shin. A bunch of your fellows are getting together to celebrate the return. You'll want to be there."

"What about Scumbucket? I don't think taking this Maggot to that kind of a gathering would be such a good idea. Do you?"

"No, I don't but, when they were told why you might not be able to come, they said they'd handle it. Bring him along." She turned to face Kakashi once more. "I warn you, Hatake, they aren't all that far from throwing you to the wolves so if I were you I'd mind my manners tonight. If they catch even a whiff of how you really think of that boy, I guarantee you will live just long enough to regret it."

"Ok," said Anko. "What time?"

"Around sunset I think. They didn't mention a specific time so I think everyone was just gonna drift in whenever their duties for the day released them." Anko nodded and Tsunade left in a swirl of leaves. She did still have at least a small mountain of paperwork to get through.

Kakashi went back to scrubbing the rocky face as if his very life depended on there not being a single smudge of dirt anywhere on it's rocky surface. He even scrubbed the teeth thinking how appropriate it was to be scrubbing them with a long handled brush. All he need was some toothpaste and he bet he could get them to outshine Gai's teeth.

Author Note: I am so very sorry that this took so long to get posted. I am currently working on about four stories, this one included and sometimes I spend so much time on one of them that I never get back to this one. I do however have this one completely worked out chapter-wise. All I need to do, in order to finish posting this story is polish each chapter and make sure the red threads of thought are all tied off as neatly as I can. Hope you enjoy the chapter and I will try harder not to leave you hanging so long for the next one. Remember reviews work wonders to get a writer to post.