Sakura flipped through a stack of patient records, rubbing her bleary eyes. She could vaguely hear the cheerful bustle in the streets, but she ignored it. The civilians had been celebrating a return to normalcy ever since the troops came home a few weeks ago, but for Sakura the war wasn't actually over. The hospital was full of patients who needed her devotion if they were ever going to return to normal life. The wards were full of shinobi with missing limbs, chronic infections, psychological trauma, and any number of other conditions that would take months or even years to recover from—if at all.
Too many people forgot that war casualties weren't always measured in deaths.
"Sakura-chan!"
Sakura tiredly lifted her head and saw Naruto standing in the hallway, a cheerful smile on his face. A few steps behind him, in the shadows of the hall was Sasuke, his expression utterly blank. Sakura tried to smile at them, but she knew it didn't reach her eyes. "Hey, guys. What are you two doing here?"
"We came to take you to dinner," Naruto said, coming into the room and standing across the table from her. Sasuke stayed in the hallway, his eyes fixed somewhere over her head. Sakura had to forcibly tear her gaze away from Sasuke's face in order to focus on Naruto and part of her hated herself for it.
"Naruto, I can't." Sakura held up the stack of patient records. "I have to finish going over these treatment plans and then check in on a few last patients before I can even think about leaving on our mission tomorrow."
Naruto frowned at her, his expressive eyes clearly showing his concern. "Sakura, you practically live in the hospital, barely eating or sleeping—"
"This is my job," Sakura interrupted, squeezing her hand into a fist in her lap. "We have more than a hundred patients suffering injuries that could still kill them and then there are all the outpatient rehabilitation and physical therapy programs that have to be staffed." She gestured around her. "Inside these walls the war is anything but over."
"But Sakura—"
"Leave her be," Sasuke interrupted.
Sakura was grateful for the rescue even though Sasuke sounded bored. She was fairly certain that he was only here because Naruto had dragged him. He was still technically on probation and only allowed to leave his apartment under Naruto's supervision. Everyone knew that Naruto was the only one who could stop him if he went rogue again, so Tsunade had made him Naruto's sole responsibility.
Of course that meant that he got to go with them on their mission tomorrow, even though Sakura wasn't sure he was ready for that sort of responsibility yet. Sure she'd vouched for him with Tsunade and the council, just like Naruto had, but that didn't mean that she was free of doubts.
Sakura was glad he was back, but she was under no illusions about Sasuke anymore. It was clear that he didn't care about her or anyone else—except maybe Naruto—so she wasn't wasting what precious little free time she had on him. Maybe when things calmed down at the hospital she would try to reach out, but at the moment she couldn't even think that far ahead.
She had too many other things to worry about.
Naruto sighed. "Okay, but make sure you actually eat something today."
"She will," another voice came from the shadows near Sasuke and Sakura squinted to see Shikamaru approaching with a bento box. "Ino sent me with this."
Shikamaru entered the room, set the box down on the table, and took a seat across from her. He slouched back, his spine curved and his arms behind his head. At her raised eyebrow, he sighed. "The troublesome woman told me I had to make sure you ate it all."
"How is she?" Sakura asked, softly.
Shikamaru's eyes darted up at Sasuke and he hesitated before answering. "She's dealing by smothering the rest of us. My mom hasn't had to cook a meal since Ino came home and now she's gotten word that you haven't been eating either."
Sakura frowned. Inoichi's death during the war had made Ino an orphan. The Yamanaka clan wasn't small, but Sakura knew that Ino wasn't particularly close to her cousins. She was technically the head of her clan now, but the elders would manage things until she could be trained in her duties and that wouldn't start until after a reasonable grieving period.
"Naruto," Sasuke said, his voice slightly irritated now.
"I'm coming." Naruto smiled at Sakura and Shikamaru. "We should all go out for ramen sometime soon."
"Sure," Sakura said, her fake smile back in place. Shikamaru just grunted.
Sakura watched Naruto and Sasuke leave, once again ashamed that her eyes lingered on Sasuke as long as she could see him. The habits of her youth were hard to break.
Once her teammates were well out of hearing range, Shikamaru sat forward, his easy slouch disappearing. "How's Sasuke transitioning?"
Sakura shrugged. "I've barely seen him. All I have to go on is what Naruto tells me and you know he's biased."
She opened the bento and began eating mechanically. She wasn't really hungry—she hadn't been since that first day of battle when she'd been up to her elbows in a comrade's guts trying to heal him—but she wouldn't be any good to her patients if she didn't keep her chakra levels up.
"To be honest, I'm surprised you're not."
"I'm glad he's back," Sakura said a bit defensively.
"But?"
"But I'm not a little girl anymore." She gestured at the files that surrounded her. "There are people who want my help and I'd rather do what I can for them than run up against the brick wall that is Uchiha Sasuke. I've spent too many years of my life doing that already."
Shikamaru nodded and she thought she saw respect in his eyes. "Ino hasn't even mentioned him once since he got back. He might find reviving his clan a little more difficult than he thought it would be."
Sakura forced a laugh even though the thought of Sasuke reviving his clan was anything but funny to her. The last time he'd spoken of it had been the day she'd realized that he'd truly lost himself, at least temporarily, to madness. Shaking her head she turned back to her food. After a few minutes of silent eating she set down her chopsticks and gave Shikamaru a serious look. "Is she really doing okay? I feel bad that I haven't been there for her like I should…"
"Choji's parents have been looking after her a bit, when she'll let them," Shikamaru answered. "And she's keeping herself busy with the flower shop and cooking for pretty much everyone."
"And how are you?" Sakura asked quietly.
Shikamaru shrugged. "I'm fine. Trying to teach Naruto about politics is like trying to teach Shino's bugs to do the tango, but it keeps me busy."
That wasn't what she'd meant, but she wasn't going to push him. Sakura liked Shikamaru and considered him a friend, but they weren't extremely close. If he didn't want to talk about his dad's death then she certainly wasn't going to force him.
She took the last rice ball out of the bento and set it on a napkin next to her before closing up the box and setting it aside. "I'll save this one for later. Tell Ino thank you for me and that I'll try to stop by soon."
Shikamaru nodded and slowly stood up, stretching languidly. If Sakura didn't know better she'd think that he really was the same lazy boy she'd known as a genin, but she did know better. His laziness was nothing but a show these days, much like Kakashi's.
He picked up the box and turned to leave, but stopped with his back to her. "Can I trust you to tell me if Sasuke becomes suspicious?"
No, definitely not lazy at all. In fact, Sakura wouldn't be surprised if he'd volunteered to bring her the food just so that he could feel her out about Sasuke.
The question was a line in the sand and she knew it. Once upon a time she would have kept Sasuke's secrets and would have even turned her back on the village to follow him. Even a short time ago she would have sworn her loyalty to him over someone like Shikamaru, but now she understood that it wasn't about that. Shikamaru was devoted to Konoha above all else and Sasuke…
"When I kill everyone in Konoha! By severing the bond, we will be purified! That will be the true revival of the Uchiha clan!"
Sakura couldn't shake that memory no matter how hard she tried. That day was one of the worst of her life, and while Sasuke seemed better and had fought to protect them during the battle with Tobi, she had to admit that she still didn't trust him. She didn't know if she would ever be able to. His loyalties were ever changing and she didn't have the absolute faith in him that Naruto did. It shamed her that she couldn't live up to Naruto's example, but she just couldn't. She'd never understood Sasuke the way Naruto had and it would take a lot more for her to trust him now.
She did trust Shikamaru, though. She trusted him to protect Konoha with his last breath and she trusted him to know how to do it. She bet that he already had at least twenty plans for how to take down Sasuke if it came to that. Last time she'd tried to do it herself and had failed. She was glad she had, but a person only got so many second chances.
"Yes," Sakura whispered. Saying the word was like a knife in her chest. Vocalizing her lack of faith in Sasuke hurt, but it couldn't be helped. The stakes were too high. She only hoped that Naruto would forgive her if she ever had to make that call.
Shikamaru nodded once and left the room.
Sasuke was on his knees before the enemy ninja, the sharp point of the man's kunai holding him in place.
"Give it up," the man growled, his voice rough with age.
Sasuke tilted his head until he could see the man's one good eye. "Can I…say something?"
"I'm sick of listening to you! Now die!" the man yelled as he lunged forward.
Sasuke watched with a smirk as his clone popped. He stepped closer to the man's unprotected back. "You need to give up…on telling me to give up."
Sasuke rolled his eyes and snapped the book closed. He tossed the stupid thing onto the floor, not caring that it landed spine up with the pages bending. It figured that Naruto would make him read a treatise on never giving up that starred a main character named "Naruto." Wasn't it bad enough that he had to listen to Naruto himself spout out that same nonsense all the time?
Speaking of the idiot, Sasuke felt Naruto's chakra flare right before he appeared in a crouch at the window. "Hey! You about ready for the mission?"
Sasuke grunted. To be honest he could care less, but he figured that Naruto didn't want to hear that.
Naruto stepped down from the window and looked around the small one room apartment that Sasuke had been provided with after his return to Konoha. It was smaller than the place he'd had as a genin, but he supposed that's what happened when no one trusted you. He'd spent his first week back in the hospital and for a while it had looked like his only option when he got out would be to move in with Naruto. He was glad that Tsunade had finally agreed to give him this apartment so he didn't have to deal with the idiot twenty-four hours a day.
Besides this place was just temporary until he could get access to his clan's funds…or at least what was left. Apparently Danzo had been using the Uchiha's money to fund Root for years. The thought made Sasuke wish he'd killed the man slower, although at least he'd gotten to kill him several different times…
"Where's your pack?" Naruto asked, interrupting Sasuke's fond memory of crushing Danzo with his Susanoo.
Sasuke sighed and stood up to grab his bag and throw a few things into it. It wasn't like he needed much. It was only three days to Suna and he was pretty sure that he wouldn't starve in three days. Of course he may starve once he got there. He knew that the only reason he was going on this mission was because Naruto pulled strings with Gaara and he wouldn't put it past some of the Sand Shinobi to poison his food. Not that they would succeed, of course, but he had the highest bounty in the Bingo Book for a reason. It was actually a matter of pride that they considered him worth such an astronomical sum.
While he had been in the hospital recovering from his chakra exhaustion, Naruto had apparently been busy getting him removed from the official most wanted lists, but he still wasn't actually welcome many places. He was outright banned from setting foot in Lightning and the Land of Iron and there were major restrictions to his travels anywhere else. The trip to Suna was a trial run to see if he could be trusted to follow orders and play nice. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he would do it for Itachi.
"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed in a scandalized voice. He stuffed a spare shirt into his pack and turned around to see Naruto carefully smoothing out the bent pages of Tales of a Gutsy Ninja. "You can't just toss it around like that."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He knew that Naruto's mentor had written the book and that it meant a lot to Naruto, but he was surprised to see the reverence that the other boy had for it. It was still weird to see Naruto approach anything with that level of care.
"Just be glad I'm reading it," Sasuke muttered before turning back to his pack.
Naruto came around and slipped the book into the bag on top of Sasuke's spare shuriken scrolls. Sasuke let him do it even though the last thing he wanted to do was lug that thing to Suna and back. "How do you like it so far? Isn't it awesome?"
"Are you sure you really want me to 'never give up'?" Sasuke asked, avoiding the actual question. "If I hadn't given up my own goals we never would have beaten Madara and I certainly wouldn't have come back here."
Naruto shook his head, a small smile on his face. "That's not the point, or at least not the whole point. It's about understanding and trying to find a new way forward and—"
Sasuke held up a hand to stop the excited rambling. "No one likes spoilers, idiot."
Naruto just shook his head, not rising to the usual bait. That was another thing that Sasuke still had to get used to. No matter what he did or said, he couldn't seem to get a rise out of Naruto. Not that he was really trying to, but he did sort of miss the shouting matches that they used to have as kids. Those had been familiar and he knew how to act around that old Naruto. This new, calmer Naruto confused him. The strangest part was that he'd seen flashes of that old Naruto when he had gotten into an immature fight with that Sai person during a hospital visit, but over the last few weeks he'd never been less than calm with Sasuke. He'd been annoyingly cheerful and exuberant at time, but never angry or uncontrolled. It was strange.
"Don't forget your toothbrush," Naruto said. "And you'd better hurry. Since Kakashi isn't coming, we'll probably actually leave on time."
Sasuke didn't speed up. He had no desire whatsoever to put on a Konoha forehead protector for the first time since he was twelve and go on a mission for the village. He may have decided that he would honor Itachi's memory by protecting Konoha, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
He sighed and began to change out of his civilian clothing and into something more functional for a mission. He'd finally abandoned the clothes that he'd worn in Sound—the less he reminded everyone of that version of himself the better—and had picked up some generic dark pants with numerous small pockets for hiding various weapons and a purple sleeveless shirt. The only thing that set the clothes apart was the Uchiha clan symbol embroidered on the back of the shirt.
Once he was dressed he put on his armbands and his chokutō. Finally finished, he grabbed up the bag and turned to face Naruto again.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Naruto asked, pointing at the forehead protector still on the table.
Sasuke sighed again as he picked it up. "I was hoping nobody would notice."
Naruto shook his head and launched into an animated lecture about how important a ninja's forehead protector was. Sasuke tuned him out—he was pretty sure that he'd heard this rant before—while he tried to figure out where to wear the damn thing. There was no way in hell he was going to wear it on his forehead like a great big billboard.
"Shut up," Sasuke muttered, putting a stop to Naruto's rant. He tied the band around his left thigh with the identifying metal plate facing out. "Can't you see I'm putting it on?"
He tugged on the band, twisting it a little. He wasn't sure if he liked the way it felt against his leg, but he figured he wasn't going to like it anywhere else either, so he left it.
"You finally ready?" Naruto asked, already on his way to the window. "I swear you're worse than Sakura-chan. How much do you want to bet she's already there waiting for us?"
Sasuke shrugged. "I don't care."
"You rarely do," Naruto said as he jumped out the window. There was no heat to his words. It was just a statement of fact, but for some reason it irritated Sasuke.
Sasuke jumped down next to Naruto and fell into step beside him as they made their way to the front gate. He kept his eyes straight ahead and his chin up, ignoring all of the stares and whispers from the people in the street. The stray words that he caught—well the ones that weren't about Naruto—indicated that people were torn between thinking Sasuke was a hero and thinking he was a criminal who should be hung. He figured they were all just stupid and he really didn't care what the mindless sheep thought about him.
The only thing that actually provoked a reaction from him was when he heard a woman whisper Itachi's name. He was proud of himself for not doing anything more than grind his teeth, which he was pretty sure went unnoticed. However, it was probably a good thing that they moved passed her before he heard her say anything else.
"I'm still trying to convince Tsunade to release Danzo's files on the massacre," Naruto said quietly. "It would clear Itachi's name…at least as far as loyalty goes."
Sasuke ground his teeth harder. Apparently he hadn't been as subtle as he'd thought if Naruto had picked up on his frustration. "Itachi wanted it to stay a secret. He didn't want the clan blamed."
"I know," Naruto replied. "That's why Tsunade isn't listening to me. But I hate hearing his name smeared, too."
Sasuke cut his eyes over to look at Naruto. He'd only been back to Konoha for a few weeks and there were a lot of things that they hadn't talked about yet. Not that Sasuke actually wanted to talk about them to Naruto or anyone else. That didn't stop him from following up on Naruto's comment though. "Why would you care?"
"You mean besides the fact that it hurts you?" Naruto asked. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in warning. He was completely unimpressed by Naruto's sentimentalism. Thankfully Naruto got the idea and moved on. "He served Konoha as loyally as anyone and I don't like that the village turned her back on him. It's not right. But it's personal for me, too. He saved me from Nagato's zombie and knocked a little sense into me. He even gave me Shisui's eye."
Naruto sighed. "At least Tsunade said that she's working on getting his efforts during the war made public knowledge. I guess that's better than nothing."
Sasuke hadn't realized that Naruto and his brother had interacted that much, but even though part of him wanted to ask Naruto about it; the churning in his gut deterred him. He really just wasn't ready to talk about Itachi yet. He might never be. There was one thing that he needed to know though.
"Shisui's eye?"
"Yeah," Naruto answered. "Itachi trapped me in a genjutsu right before he died and crammed this crow into my mouth. It was really gross and that's coming from someone who's had toads shoved down their throat on multiple occasions. Anyway, it turned out that it had Shisui's eye. It was programmed to react to Itachi's eyes and make whoever had them loyal to Konoha."
Sasuke scowled. His brother had mentioned that he'd planned to use that power on Sasuke, but things had been so hectic at the time that he'd almost forgotten. Was that how far Itachi had been willing to go to make Sasuke loyal to Konoha? The idea that he wouldn't have been able to make his own choices disturbed Sasuke. "Where is it now?"
"Don't worry," Naruto said. "Itachi destroyed it after it woke him up from Kabuto's control." He paused and looked at Sasuke. "I would never have intentionally used something like that on you."
"Why not?"
"Why not use the moon to cast a giant genjutsu that makes everyone into mindlessly happy puppets?" Naruto countered. "We have to make our own choices or nothing matters."
Sasuke nodded once and considered the conversation closed. Thankfully Naruto fell quiet as well.
He refocused his attention onto the street in front of him. It was strange to be in Konoha and not know his way around. Things were still only partially rebuilt and other than the Hokage Monument, none of the landmarks were the same. Pein had done a pretty thorough job of destroying the city. If Sasuke had realized just how badly it had already been destroyed he might have focused his rage at a target that was still standing. Probably not, but there was a chance he would have.
It didn't take them long to get to the main gate where he saw that Sakura was indeed waiting along with Sai and the Hokage. Sasuke did his best to appear completely unconcerned as all eyes fell on him.
"You're late," Tsunade snapped.
"It's my fault, Baa-chan," Naruto lied smoothly.
She turned her glare off of Sasuke and onto Naruto. "I'm expecting you to keep him in line. I don't need you to pick up anymore bad habits of your own."
"Yes, Baa-chan," Naruto replied and Sasuke had to force himself not to smirk at the way Tsunade twitched at the nickname.
"If you aren't careful, I'll never retire and you won't be Hokage until you're old and gray."
"Isn't that punishing yourself?" Sai asked, drawing Tsunade's attention away from Naruto.
Before the situation could disintegrate further, Sakura stepped forward, her body language deferential. "Did you have final orders for us, Tsunade-shishou?"
"Here," Tsunade handed a thick sealed envelope to Sakura. She jerked her head at Naruto. "Unlike him, I trust you not to lose that. Give it to the Kazekage." She handed over a standard mission scroll as well. "That should cover everything else."
"Thank you," Sakura said, stowing both items in her pack.
Tsunade turned back to Sasuke and Naruto. "Don't make me regret this and don't start a war."
She spun on her heal and stomped away, her heals somehow managing to click on the dirt path.
"Let's go," Sakura said already starting to jog. "Sai and I'll take lead. Naruto, you and Sasuke have the back."
Sasuke frowned as he fell into step with Naruto a few yards behind Sakura and Sai. He'd barely seen Sakura outside of official business since he'd returned to Konoha. He hadn't been sure what to expect from her, but a cold shoulder had been the last thing he'd imagined. Like Naruto, she'd changed a lot since they were kids and it was throwing him off balance. It wasn't that he wanted her to be all over him like she used to be, but at least he knew how to respond to that.
He still wasn't used to hearing her speak his name without the ever present "-kun." She'd even used it when she'd come to assassinate him, although that may have been to set him at ease. That had been a shock—or it would have been if he had been able to feel anything at the time. She was the last person he would have ever expected to attempt to assassinate him. Of course she'd been too weak and hesitated in the end.
"Don't worry," Naruto said, breaking into Sasuke's thoughts. "Sakura-chan will come around."
Sasuke glared at Naruto. How did the idiot always seem to know what he was thinking these days? "I don't care."
"Yeah, yeah, I know you don't." Naruto rolled his eyes.
"I'm just not used to her ignoring me," Sasuke said a bit defensively.
Naruto frowned at Sakura's back. "She's fought just as hard as me to bring you back and she also called in all her favors to help you get back on the roster."
Sasuke hadn't known that. He'd thought it had just been Naruto pulling strings for him, but it made sense that the Hokage's apprentice had connections too. "Then why?"
Naruto shrugged which looked extremely awkward while he was running. "I think she's protecting herself."
"Good for her," Sasuke said sincerely. He knew that he wasn't a nice man and he had tried to kill her not too long ago. She would be stupid to forget that so soon.
"You ought to talk to her sometime," Naruto suggested. "Maybe apologize for trying to kill her."
"She was there to kill me too," Sasuke pointed out.
"Yeah but you came a lot closer than she did," Naruto's said somberly. Then his ever present smile returned and he tapped his chest with his thumb. "But I saved the day like usual."
Considering the subject matter, Sasuke was surprised that Naruto was willing to be so lighthearted and a chuckle escaped him unexpectedly. There was something so absurd about going on a mission with Naruto and Sakura after he'd tried to kill them both just a few months ago that he had to laugh. It had been a long time since he'd found anything amusing enough to laugh—well other than the occasional bout of hysterical laughter when he had been under a lot of mental pressure right after the Kage conference. He's pretty sure that other people may have described it as "maniacal" but he was sticking to his own story.
Naruto tilted his head at Sasuke. "It's kind of scary when you do that."
Well, maybe his laugh would still be described as "maniacal" by some people. Oh well, it wasn't like he laughed very often anyway.
"Seriously, though," Naruto said. "You should talk to her."
Sasuke grunted. "If she's finally learned to stop chasing me then why would I want to change that?"
Naruto sighed. "You are such an ass."
Sasuke didn't argue the point. He really could care less whether or not he and Sakura renewed whatever bond they'd once had. It was hard enough dealing with Naruto and he didn't know if he had the patience for other friendships right now. As long as he and Sakura could work together when necessary he was content.
"Oh well," Naruto said, grinning again. "There will be plenty of time for you two to figure things out on the mission."
Sasuke sighed. Sometimes he wondered how he had the patience for Naruto.
AN: The scene where Sasuke is reading that infamous part of Tales of a Gutsy Ninja uses dialogue directly from chapter 416 of the manga. I've changed some details because everyone who reads the book sees things a bit differently, but the dialogue is the same. However, I should note that I got the dialogue from an unofficial translation so it may vary from the official English version.