Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update! Its been a ride. Classes have started up again, and I haven't had enough time to write as much as I would've wanted to. Combine that with my job search (writing doesn't pay and put food on the table, even though I would like it to) and you get very little time to do a VERY MANY thing.

That being said, I love you guys and the constant support. Writing is a beloved hobby and I'm happy I have you guys to share this with.

THAT being said, thank you to OriksGaming for the constructive criticism. We talked and he helped me fix the "its" and "it's" problem I was having. I, like everyone else who enjoys the art, would like to improve in my writing. I do dream of pursuing this professionally, so any help is appreciated. Keep it constructive, and together we can make me a better author, who in turn can write you guys much better stories.

Because in the end, its you guys that matter.

Though I do take immense joy in writing, lol.

Because of the lateness of this chapter, I will try to get another one out much sooner. Maybe later on this week? We'll see. Otherwise expect the nearly weekly basis of before. Thank you again guys!


The air was sweet with the scent of dew and wet grass as Team Seven made their way through the forests that surrounded the Hidden Leaf. Rain had just barely settled not too long before the group departed from their completed mission, leaving the sun to poke out through patches of dirty gray clouds. This same sun shone rays of golden sunlight down through the canopy of leaves overhead, giving the path that the four walked on a somber mood.

Naruto, of course, could only yawn at such a sight.

"I can't believe they still named it after you," Sasuke grumbled. He shuffled along beside his blonde haired best friend as they trailed behind Sakura and Kakashi. They walked just slow enough to be out of earshot, but not slow enough as to be lagging too far behind. Seeing as there was no immediate danger to be had, the four could walk in relative peace as they trudged through the dirt and occasional muddy spot.

"Why wouldn't they?" Naruto asked. "They wanted to name their bridge something awesome, so who better than me?"

"I don't know," Sasuke responded. "They did have me."

"You're right, they did. I wonder why you weren't picked?"

Sasuke snickered. "Same reason why I wasn't picked for Hokage: pity."

"Oh ha ha."

This banter continued well into the forest. It wasn't until they were upon the cusp of the village two days later that the boys stopped. By then, their arguing had grated on the other half of the team's nerves.

"I'm happy you can talk and all," Sakura said, rubbing her temple, "but do you really have to continue this nearly as soon as you recover?"

"Yes," Naruto answered. Currently his fist was buried in Sasuke's cheek. To be fair, the raven haired boy's was also in his, so there was no love lost.

"I was asking Sasuke-kun, Naruto. Not you."

"As much as it pains me to say this, the idiot's right. I have to assert my superiority immediately or the class loser will get too full of himself." Sasuke's smirk was downright challenging, a point Naruto immediately picked up on.

"It's hard not to get full of me. There's just so much of me to go around!"

"There isn't," Sasuke replied. "Its just seems like it because of all that hot air you're spewing."

"Its hard not to be full of hot air when you keep trying to set me on fire!"

"Well, I'm sorry whirlpool maybe you should learn some water ju-"

And as if it never stopped, their banter continued again. Sakura had to block her ears.

"Sensei?" Sakura asked. Her silver haired teacher had been doing a valiant effort in completely ignoring his three charges. Unearthing his head from his book, Kakashi looked over his pink haired student.

"Yes, pinkie?"

Sakura had been given that name some time ago. She had never endeared herself to it. She ignored it at first, hoping that it would fade with time. Evidently it had not, but she still held out hope. Taking a moment to calm herself, for she knew if she showed any reaction whatsoever it would vindicate the silver haired man, she responded.

"Is there nothing you can do about this?" Sakura gestured to the two boys who had by now started to pull each other's hair and clothing. "They'll listen to you."

Kakashi spared a glance behind himself. Indeed, the two boys had reduced their shinobi training to biting and clawing at one another. Whatever suspicions he had about the blonde before wavered before the sheer natural feeling the two gave off. Rivalry and pure hearted distaste didn't run that deep without some sort of history. This being said, it only raised suspicions about Sasuke. The boy had been little more than a walking vegetable for about as long as the man had known him. Hiding that fact from his Hokage had been difficult, but it was also just something that he had grown used to. To have it changed, seemingly immediately, only pricked the Jonin's danger senses even more.

Kakashi wasn't a gambling man. He wouldn't bet anything if he wasn't sure he would win, and by that point it wasn't even strictly "betting" anymore. A very long time had passed since the man decided that he wouldn't ever bet against his danger sense, and he would surely look into the two more closely than before. Which reminded him...

"What?" Sakura asked. Kakashi had started staring at her, rather than the two problem children she had asked him to address. Looking over the girl with a critical eye, Kakashi sighed before turning back to his book.

"I can't be bothered to stop them. As the fairer sex of the team, I feel it should fall to you to correct them of their ill behavior."

"What?" Sakura screeched. "That's sexist!"

"Maybe, but that's my excuse."

And thus, with a huff, Kakashi found his traveling partner stomping off behind him to break up the brawl. Seconds later, Kakashi almost winced at the sheer pressure of the hit that struck Naruto's head. Bemoaning the strike, Naruto was vocal in his displeasure.

"What the hell was that for?" Naruto yelled. "Sasuke was fighting too! Hit him!"

"I would, but he actually listens when I talk to him. Unlike some people." Sakura was absolutely livid, but the hit still hurt Naruto more emotionally than physically. No, what really aggravated him was the smug smirk on Sasuke's face as he stared down Naruto behind Sakura's back.

Kakashi shook his head, before turning back to his book. Out of all of them, Sakura was the one student who didn't give him a cause for alarm. Given her civilian background, it only made sense that she wasn't adept at hiding anything substantial. Her presence was both relaxing and efficient, as her annoyance kept him from having to break up the two fledgling shinobi.

Though her skill at doing so was also a cause for concern.

Kakashi shook his head once more as he buried himself ever deeper into his book. This was a successful mission. He would enjoy it while it lasted. He would leave the paranoia for when they were back in the village proper.

XxX

"The mountain looks so much better without your ugly mug on it," Sasuke stated. Both he and Naruto sat atop a water silo —the very same one that he and the blond destroyed, if he recalled. Dangling short legs and tired hearts, the two reborn children had finally managed to ditch their other two teammates. The sun was setting, painting the sky in a shady orange hue that was interrupted only by the fleeting clouds that dotted its canvas.

"I dunno what you're talking about. I almost forgot it was there." Naruto, unlike Sasuke, was lying down. Eyes closed and head resting on his folded hands, he was enjoying himself immensely. Not too far from where they lounged was a ramen shop, and the evening winds blew the smell of the noodles directly to where they sat.

"Of course you would. You had the misfortune of seeing it every day. I'm only ever in the village like, twice a year."

"Sometimes not even that," Naruto added. Sasuke nodded.

"I used to hate the work schedule you gave me. Ever since Sarada was born, I wanted to spend every waking second with her. Now I can see it for the blessing it is. If I had to see a giant version of your face every day, I'd probably defect again."

"Good luck with that," Naruto said. "I won't send Hunter Ninja after you, but I don't know how well you'd avoid your wife." Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Do you really think Sakura is strong enough to beat me?"

"In an all-out fight?" Naruto asked. "No. Definitely not. But you're too much of a softie to fight her all-out. As we both know, if you don't kill Sakura enough times, you're going to lose to her."

Sasuke scoffed. The action was so very Uchiha it only made sense that he did it. "If Sakura knew that someone was holding back on her, she'd definitely smash them into paste. Limits or not though, I think I can still beat my wife."

Naruto laughed. It was deep, and hearty, and full of such wisdom that it was out of place on the goofy young blonde's face.

"Dude, I don't think you can beat your teammate Genin Sakura, much less your wife, 'The Second Slug Sannin' Sakura. You just can't bring yourself to hurt her anymore."

"Excuse me? I take offense to that! I have the power of Gods and the embodiment of Hatred!" Sasuke put his hand over his heart, feigning pain. Naruto laughed at Sasuke's display.

"And yet somehow, you still lose to your wife. I saw you earlier, bastard. When Sakura asked you out on a dinner date, it took everything in you to refuse." Sasuke chuckled.

"Oh? Don't think you're off the hook, idiot. Kurama told me that you've been avoiding Hinata like the plague. What's that about?"

"Why am I not surprised the bastard fox is telling you everything?" Sasuke shrugged. "Whatever. I'll tell you the same thing I told him. I just haven't gotten around to talking to her yet."

"Bullshit." Sasuke pointed at his best friend, eyes daring him to contradict the statement. "You're still feeling guilty about her, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes you do."

"I haven't the slightest…"

"Naruto be serious."

"Fine," Naruto said, throwing his hands in the air as he relented. "I still feel a little bad. She loved me for so long, man. How can I face her, especially a child her, knowing how much I made her suffer and wait? It's unbelievable."

"At least you didn't try to shove a blade of lightning through her chest," Sasuke joked. Naruto laughed along.

"To be fair, she also tried to poison you."

"Have you tasted her cooking?" Sasuke asked. "She does that all the time."

"Oh? Is that the real reason you're never home? Forget 'redeeming and repenting', you just wanted to get out of eating Sakura's terrible food!"

The two boys laughed uproariously at that. Reverted back to their childlike, undeveloped voices, the two sounded as if two raucous boys sharing an equally childish joke. Their laughter echoed and reverberated throughout the alleys and buildings which surrounded them. This was sure to disrupt those that lived among such abodes, but neither cared. Very rarely had they the time to laugh together, at least in their own time. They would enjoy the situation while they could.

Eventually the two managed to calm their spirits. Reverie dying down with their laughter, the two returned to a somber silence as the sun managed to nearly complete its descent beyond the horizon.

"Naruto," Sasuke began. His tone was low, a far cry from what he was not a minute ago. "Be honest. Will I see Sakura and Sarada again?" Naruto scoffed.

"You managed to avoid your wife and daughter for so long that by the time you finally saw either one again, you barely recognized them. What's so different now?"

"Before… What I mean…" Sasuke seemed to be stumbling over his own words. Sucking his teeth, Naruto hit the boy on his back.

"It's just me, asshole. My opinion of you couldn't be any lower than it is all the time. Just let it out." Sasuke didn't seem to appreciate the gesture, but relaxed at the words regardless.

"Fine. The difference is… before, back in our own time, even though I was gone for years, the option to come back was there. I knew that I wouldn't be returning anytime soon. Somewhere, deep down in my heart, I still don't feel like I've repented enough to deserve holding the child of that wonderful woman."

"You pansy. I told you that they didn't care. No one cared. They just wanted their papa and husband back."

"Still," Sasuke continued, "I couldn't return. All the evil I've done and the lives I've ruined count towards something. You and I both know that even now, er, then. So many years after the Fourth Shinobi War, and people still had attempts on my life. So what that the big people in charge forgave me? All the common people, all the men and women that I killed, whether directly are indirectly, still had grieving families. Who am I to enjoy my family while they grieved their own?"

"It was war Sasuke. You know what happens during war."

"Yes, I do. But more than all of that, I was a direct cause of it. Even if my part was small, it was still a part. Tell me, Naruto. Do you think that it's fair for me to sleep easy and happy after all the pain and suffering I've caused?"

"No," Naruto replied. Sasuke smiled. If there was anything about his best friend he enjoyed, it was his brutal honesty. "But that doesn't mean that you should beat yourself up over it forever. You've done plenty to make up for your wrongdoings. Twelve years of exile from your own family, something you've wanted for so long, don't you think that's a lot?"

Sasuke shook his head. Solemnly he stared at his own left arm, occasionally opening and closing the fingers on his hand. He was still not used to its extra weight quite yet, and moving with it was more off putting than anything else. Combined with the lower center of gravity and shorter reach, and overall everything was rather disorienting. This arm was both something he didn't want nor need, yet he was gifted with it anyway.

"It is. I've done a lot in the name of your service and your honor, Nanadaime Hokage. And yet, it still feels like it's not enough. It's never enough, and yet… I could do it forever, if I had to."

"Why?" Naruto asked. He had sat up.

"Because I know that I have a loving wife and a beautiful, powerful daughter at home." Sasuke lifted his left arm, using it to encircle the Hokage Mountain with his outstretched fingers. "I may not be able to reach them. No, I know I may never have had that ability, but the idea of knowing they were there was enough for me. I was protecting them, both in my mission and exile, and that was enough for me. Now, though… Now they're far away, in a place I can't even imagine. I feel cold and empty. Surely you feel it too?"

"I do," Naruto replied. "Knowing your family is in a place you can't go to leaves you empty inside. No amount of ramen can fill that void."

"So you understand?" Sasuke asked. "You know what I'm talking about?"

"Of course I do, bastard. I'm not that stupid."

"So answer my question. Will I see Sakura and Sarada again? Not this tiny Sakura, and not some other Sarada that might spring up in this timeline. Will the gods return me to see my baby girl and my beautiful wife? That's all I need to know."

And then there was silence. It seeped into the atmosphere like water into fabric, as it soaked the tension in the air to its very roots. After a bit longer, Naruto finally broke the staring contest the two were engaged in, before taking a deep breath.

"Yes, Sasuke. You will see them again. And I will see Hinata and my children as well. Believe it." At this, Sasuke chuckled. It was an Uchiha chuckle, borne of many generations of pride filled, ego maniacs who suppressed the urge to laugh.

"Somehow, your idiotic reassurance was all I needed."

"I hear my voice alone calmed the troops after the invasion."

"That wasn't an invasion, idiot." Sasuke laid down next to his blonde brother. "That was your son who sabotaged all the village alarms."

"Yes, and it was my voice that calmed everyone afterwards!"

"Of course it was! You were the only one who could understand the mind of a prankster child like him!"

"You're just jealous because—"

Their banter continued well after the sun had finally set.

XxX

"So what's this about?" Sasuke asked. His left hand was fixed solely in his pocket as he and his two other teammates stood in front of their sensei. Naruto had convinced him that he couldn't simply cut his arm off and be done with it when they returned a week ago, so instead he settled to having it rest in his pocket. Eternally.

"I've nominated you three to the Chuunin Exams. Congratulations." The three students stared at their teacher. In one hand he held the book he had his head all but buried in. In the other, he held the three consent forms that belonged to them. The reason they knew it belonged to them was because their names were already signed on the signature lines.

"And what if we don't want to participate?" Sakura asked. She had her hand lifted, but was reluctant to retrieve the paper from her teacher. Their names were already there, in perfect replicas of their own signatures. Accepting the paper from him would be akin to accepting the situation he had all but forced them into.

"You don't have that option," Kakashi said. He hadn't removed his eyes from his book. The man looked like he couldn't possibly give any less attention to this situation if he tried.

"What are our options?" Naruto asked.

"Accepting."

"That's one choice. That's not an option then."

"I'm glad you understand."

"What if I make my own option?" Sasuke asked. "What if I burn those scrolls, solving our problem immediately?"

"I don't think you'll do that?" Kakashi hummed.

"And why not?" Sasuke's voice rose in challenge.

"Because you wouldn't want to burn yourself."

"What are you talking abo-" was about as far as Sasuke got before he realized that the papers were no longer in Kakashi's hand. Looking around, he saw that in Sakura's raised, but not outstretched, hand was the registration form with her name on it. Clearly as confused about the situation as her crush was, Sakura was reduced to only being able to stare at it in bewilderment.

"Okay, I'll bite, how the hell did he get this in my hair?" Naruto asked, fiddling with the rolled up registration form that was impaled by his unnaturally pointy hair. Resisting the urge to laugh and seeing the pattern, Sasuke looked all over himself, before finding his own form stuck in his back pocket.

Pulling it out, the raven haired teen thrust it as far from his body as possible. "I'm not participating in any little game of yours, Kakashi. If I don't want to be in the Exams, then I wo-"

It was around here that the students present realized their teacher was gone.

"What the… Naruto. Where the hell did he go?" Naruto shrugged.

"Hell if I know. Aren't you the one with the fancy eyes?"

"They weren't on you blonde haired bonobo."

"That sounds like a problem for you."

Sasuke yelled a silent scream.

"I told you that we couldn't change anything," Naruto said. Finally pulling the paper from his hair, he unrolled the parchment to see that it, around the many holes from his hair, indeed had his signature perfectly scrawled. "This is rather impressive, actually."

"Tell me about it," Sakura answered amidst Sasuke's continued cries of rage. "I started practicing my professional signature maybe a month ago. To get it down this well when I don't even have a full grasp of it is impressive."

"Well, I guess it does make sense." Naruto stated. The Uchiha had taken to biting his shirt to contain his screams, not that the blonde cared in any way. "He is known as the Copy Ninja for a reason. I bet he only needed to see it once in order to predict how it would become."

"Wait, but I only ever practiced it alone. In my room. At night. How did he manage to see it?" Sakura asked. She was doing a level job of ignoring her crush's temper tantrum.

"Were your blinds open at any time?"

"They were not."

"Then I think that says more about our sensei than I needed to know," Naruto said, a creeped expression on his face. Upon noticing that his pink haired teammate did not share the sentiment, his eyebrow quirked. "Are you not worried about this in any way? The man could have been spying on you, in your room, and you don't even know how." Sakura quirked her eyebrow as well.

"Hmm? Oh. No, not at all, actually." The pinkette then turned back to her raven haired teammate. He had started to set the training ground on fire, and surprisingly the fires didn't immediately recede. The young medic-to-be did a stellar job of ignoring the Naruto clone with fox ears that suddenly appeared and started to help the young Uchiha.

"Why not?" Naruto asked. To be honest, he was too used to carnage and destruction to be affected by the relatively tame chaos that was erupting around him. Trees crackled under the now intense fire, but neither Genin regarded it with alarm.

"He's our Jonin sensei. He's pretty much supposed to be spying on us." Naruto shook his head.

"No. I'm pretty sure he isn't."

"Oh come now, Naruto. It isn't that bad."

"Sakura, I crawled into your tent one night by accident and you almost launched me into a river."

"I don't see your point."

"The nearest river was several miles away."

"Well, you did invade my privacy," Sakura said.

"And Kakashi isn't?" Naruto all but screamed.

"It's not the same," Sakura responded.

"And how exactly isn't it?"

"You don't have pictures of what I did with Sasuke while he was comatose."

For a while the clearing was enveloped in silence. Well, as silent as it could be considering two people were running around setting fire to everything in sight.

"You know that's blackmail… right Sakura?"

"Mhm," Sakura hummed, looking not the least bit interested in the conversation.

"I'm not sure it's legal to blackmail your students," Naruto knew for a fact it was illegal to blackmail your students. Konohamaru came to him multiple times asking to do the very same in regards to Bolt. Naruto wanted desperately to allow him the right.

"We're ninja, Naruto. Concepts of 'right' and 'wrong' are lost on us."

"That sounds like something Kakashi would say."

"Hmm," Sakura hummed. She dodged a burning log that came soaring from the inferno that used to be a forest. Apparently the two had decided that burning down the Training Ground Forest wasn't enough anymore. They had to beat it into submission now as well.

"You know you can do something about it. Complain to the Hokage?" Naruto fished for an idea. Sakura shook her head.

"I don't know where he keeps the pictures, Naruto. But he keeps them relatively close to my raven haired hunk." Naruto shuddered at the phrase. With a straight face, Sakura completely ignored her blonde teammate's reaction to her words, and calmly flipped to the second page of the registration form in her hand. Taking a small, square slip out, Sakura looked at it with distaste. "Even if I managed to get him apprehended for what he's doing, he would get the pictures to Sasuke before that. I couldn't bear to lose face in front of Sasuke, especially now that he's finally not in a coma anymore."

Naruto snuck a peak over his female teammate's shoulder. The image captured therein almost made him gag. It wasn't anything sexual, but it also wasn't something he'd ever thought he'd want to immediately forget. Its content was so mind-numbingly embarrassing that he felt sorry for all those participating in it.

The way Sakura seemed to now cradle the picture didn't help his disgust.

This being the case though, Naruto made it a personal mission to retrieve the photo at a later date. Such things were great blackmail material. With a chuckle, he realized he was planning on using the picture for the exact same reason his sensei did, though on different people. Turns out he learned something from his silver haired teacher after all.

"I'll play along with Kakashi-sensei's game for now, but as soon as his guard is down I'm reclaiming what's mine. And then, Sasuke-kun will finally be all for me, no strings attached."

Naruto was forced to chuckle at the dark vibes he was getting from the girl. It was sinister and foreboding, and honestly the thirty-six-year-old man was getting creeped out by it.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that it was you, and not Kakashi, that took those photos you're so afraid of, and he just happened to get a hold of it."

Sakura's silence was not reassuring.

"Sa-Sakura?"

"Naruto," Sakura stated, her voice low, but somehow echoing over the sounds of carnage around them.

"You'll… play along… right?" Sakura asked. Naruto wasn't sure, but he could swear he could make out demonic figures dancing in the fire that surrounded them.

"P-Play along with what?" Naruto asked. His voice was shaky and cracked a little.

"Don't be dumb, Naruto. I know you're smarter than you let others know." For the first time since their conversation started, Sakura turned to Naruto fully. Staring into her normally vibrant, green eyes, revealed only dead, dark orbs. Blank and distant, Sakura cupped her hands to her cheeks as a manic smile crept on her face.

"I'm so happy Sasuke-kun is back, and now that's he's back, and finally with me, I won't ever let him go. You won't do anything that would… take him away… would you?"

The tone she had used let him know that refusing was not an option.

"Good," Sakura stated, and instantly the aura of crazed death was gone. As soon as it disappeared, Sasuke had emerged from the slowly repairing treeline. He was sweating but otherwise calmed down.

"Hi you two. I'm fine now. Are we ready to take the Chuunin Exams?"

"Of course, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura beamed. Her smile was absolutely blinding, and judging by the barely repressed smile on the Uchiha's face, it was obvious that he thought so too. Sasuke basked in his future wife's amazing enthusiasm, before noticing that it was coming only from the one source. Turning to his other teammate, Sasuke scowled when he noticed Naruto's face was paler than a sheet of paper.

"What's wrong Naruto? I would've thought that you of all people would be excited about this."

Naruto's answer was silence.

"Naruto? Are you alri-"

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked. Sasuke tilted his head.

"Yeah man? What's wrong? You look like someone just told you ramen was banned." Naruto shook his head.

"Remember that time we talked about certain habits of certain…" Naruto looked at Sakura. Her smile was happy. A little too happy. "Certain people in our lives?"

Sasuke nodded. He too looked at Sakura. Upon finding nothing wrong, he turned back to his friend. "Of course I do. What's that got to do with anyth-"

Naruto clasped his hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"You have absolutely no idea."

And with that, Naruto slinked off, looking for all the world like he had seen everything wrong in the world and didn't know how to process it. Sasuke watched him go, confusion evident in his eyes before eventually Sakura latched onto his arm. The Uchiha's first instinct was to preen under the attention, but belied that thought as soon as it occurred. This wasn't his wife, the future top medic of the Shinobi World. This was just some lowly genin who quite honestly worshipped the ground he walked on. If he didn't know any better, he would even go on to say that his wife was a fangirl.

Oh Kami.

And instantly Sasuke's genius brain clicked. This in fact wasn't his battle hardened princess who had spent years coming to terms with her obsession, and strengthening both herself and her career goals. This was a damaged, low self-esteemed girl who wanted to validate herself amongst her peers by using him as a prize.

She was unstable, she was crazy, but these were all things his Sakura was as well.

No, this Sakura was someone he did not know, and the thought of how she handled his coma and the large amounts of withdrawal she was facing because of it became readily apparent. There, a glint in her beautiful viridian eyes revealed all he needed to know about what Naruto left him with.

This Sakura was only slightly insane, and it would take a while for him to revert her.

"Do you want to go on a date, Sasuke-kun?" his pink haired angel asked. Her tone told him that refusal was not an answer.

"Good," Sakura stated, and just like that she dragged him off through town, most likely to some restaurant.

There was laughter. There was laughter somewhere in the village. It was faint, but following the Uchiha. The boy wasn't sure whether the mirth originated from Naruto or the gods themselves for putting him in this situation, but Sasuke decided he didn't care.

He would get back at the both of them for their transgressions. There would be no alternative.