"...I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference." —Robert Frost, "Road Not Taken"

Chapter 5

Decisions

"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee shouted as he came whirling towards Sakura. She knew to dodge, not block this attack, and evaded swiftly and went to land a heavy kick to Lee's abdomen but like many times before Lee swiftly jumped out of her striking zone and landed away from her.

"Ahh! My beautiful blossom you are getting faster and faster each day!" Lee said encouragingly giving her a thumbs up with a wide smile.

Sakura smirked and swiftly appeared in front of him. She expertly gathered chakra to her fist to send a devastating punch his way. Lee, fluidly dodged the attack, and sent powerful kick her way. Sakura being off-balance from the failed punch could only attempt to block the kick as she pooled the chakra to her arms. His kick was heavy and felt like a tree trunk smashing into her limbs.

She slid back a few feet and quickly regenerated any damage the kick might have caused to her in a couple of seconds. Lee was resilient, however, and kept the pressure on her, sending punches and kicks her way at blinding speed. Many she couldn't dodge and resorted to blocking, further damaging her arms and leaving bruises.

The force behind each hit was astounding, so much so that Sakura was sure that if she didn't support her arms with her chakra they would surely have been broken by now.

Sakura defenses were wearing down with each blow and she knew she had to retreat to a safe distance. So, after a particularly strong attack she quickly jumped backwards trying to distance herself from her opponent. Lee still didn't alleviate the pressure he was placing on Sakura as he quickly reached her and pulled his arm back to deliver another attack.

She knew this was her chance. She would parry his attack, deflecting in such a way to make him overextend his and get thrown slightly off-balance so that she could deliver a counterattack. The punch came and she deflected as planned, and just as she thought Lee stumbled slightly out of his stance. Sakura built up her chakra to her fist and attempted to make contact with his stomach while his guard was down. However, Lee recovered just in time to block the incoming attack. The force made him skid his feet across the dirt in an attempt to slow his acceleration from the powerful hit.

Lee looked up at Sakura and gave her a smile. "That was a nice counterattack, Sakura!" Lee shook his arms no doubt trying to regain feeling in them. "You've barely broken a sweat!" Lee commented. "But, that's to be expected!" He continued to praise.

"I could easily say the same to you Lee," she huffed trying to regulate her breathing. Lee really was the one of best taijutsu users in the world. She knew that he could even best the Hokage herself if it came to only taijutsu and nothing else. And that was saying something. This is why Sakura liked having Lee as a sparring partner. He was able to push her past her limits. The very first time she started to train her taijutus with Lee four years ago Sakura was completely outclassed in speed and strength, even with all of the Hokage's training.

She became closer to Lee as a friend over the years due to their regular sparring sessions. He had stopped pursuing her shortly after the war ended and Sakura had not complained about it. It only made talking to him less awkward. He still would praise her every chance he got but that was just his personality.

She wondered if he knew Sasuke was back, wondered how he reacted when he first heard the news—if he even cared. But of course, he risked his life trying to return the Uchiha back to the village, to save him from the clutches of Orochimaru. Sakura still thought it surreal, that after all these years years he just simply returned. She had always thought that there would be some battle between Sasuke and them, and that would be the determining factor by which he would return, kill one of them, or die. But it never occurred. Yes, there was the time when they had met him at one of Orochimaru's hideouts and shortly after Danzo's death, but those hardly qualified as more than a skirmish.

And now he was her neighbor. It had been two days since that revelation, and she hadn't seen him since. She wanted to confront him and ask why he left after the war. Why he did that to Naruto. To her? all those years ago.

"What's on your mind, Sakura?" Lee asked. She snapped out of her trance and tossed a look at Lee noticing the lines of worry marring his brow.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to zone out there," she reassured. He didn't seem convinced and further questioned.

"You can tell me if something is bothering you." He said flashing her a smile. "Is it Sasuke?" She had hoped that Lee would have simply never brought Sasuke up in conversation as so many people seemed to bother her about the man, lately. So, she couldn't help but scowl.

"It's fine, Lee, I promise," she replied shortly. Lee had seemed to catch the slight irritation in her voice and sighed.

"I meant no harm, Sakura. I was worried. That's all."

Sakura inwardly cursed herself. He was only concerned for her well-being and didn't mean to hit a somewhat sensitive area. The words escaped her lips before she could stop. "Everyone keeps asking me how I feel about Sasuke being back. Its annoying. I personally don't care whether he's here or not." She vented, frustration apparent in her words.

"But, things can go back to normal now." Lee stated, enthusiastically.

She scowled at that comment and her fists clenched until her knuckles turned snow white. "Things can never go back to the way they were."

"It can, if you try," came his reply. Sakura took notice of how serious Lee was right now. Rarely did this side of him ever come out. He was normally so cheerful and optimistic.

She mulled over his words in her head, dissecting the simple meaning behind them.

"When I was bullied as a kid," Lee continued. "I never thought it would get any better, and that I would forever be a failure." A smile a grew on his face. "Then, I met Gai-sensei. He helped me pull myself up, taught me how to be a ninja without ninjutsu and genjutsu. Then, I met new friends, and a beautiful girl with pink hair."Sakura looked up at him at that. "And along with her, I met Naruto, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, and even Sasuke." He shrugged his shoulders. "If you told my child self that everything would get better, he would not have believed you."

She had no comment. Sakura simply stood listening to his words. "It will get better if you let it, Sakura."

"It's not that easy, Lee."

"Maybe not, but you can't just keep evading him forever, my blossom."

"He lives next to me, now. So, I'll be around him much more than I'd prefer."

Lee gave her a measured look. "When you return home, will you tell him I said hello?" Lee asked giving her one of his signature smiles and thumbs up. She couldn't believe that he asked just that. Sakura shook her head and but couldn't stop small smile that spread across her lips. He knew how to deflate a tense situation.

"Shall we continue?" He questioned lightly jumping in place.

She nodded and quickly closed the gap between them, directing the chakra to her arms.

Night hung around him like a perfect cloak as he moved effortlessly and silently through the trees, making his way to the destination. He slowed to a stop when he saw the forest ending ahead of him and using the moonlight, he looked at the picture of the man in his hand to memorize his features. He had a rectangular shaped head with a hard set jaw, dusted with a few specks of hair. The mop on his head was the color of the timber trees around him, and his brow and eyes were solemn as if he knew the fate that was to befall him.

He folded picture in to his back pocket and stared at the two-story house far in the distance. It sat secluded in the farmland that surrounded it, away from everyone—alone. He hugged the treeline and waited for the final light within the house to flick off before approaching slowly through the corn stalk field. Even if his target somehow saw his crops moving in the distance, he would be none the wiser, attributing it to the wildlife that would undoubtedly roam these fields every so often. This being his rationale, he slowly increased his pace while making as little noise as possible.

His cover of the crop stopped a few feet in front of him, which gave way to a field of cabbage after a small pathway that separated the two crops. He cursed at his luck. The house was about another six hundred feet away. He would either have to test his luck with the cabbage field and hope his target doesn't look outside a window or he would have to attempt to circle the house in hopes that he found a side that lacked windows. He opted for the latter, knowing that taking unnecessary risks was foolish.

Backing away from the edge of the maize field, he moved to his left trying to reach another side of the house hoping that there were no windows. After minutes of stalking through the field, it became apparent that the side he was currently going toward lacked any windows. He stopped moving when he directly faced the that side of the house.

Cautiously, he stepped through the edge of the corn. He was now standing on a continuation of the trail that he saw when he was near the cabbage. It seemed to split the turnips ahead of him into two separate sections reaching all the way to the side of the house where he was now looking. He followed the dirt pathway until he came next to the house.

He stayed close to the wall and made his way to the front of the house stopping when he reached a window next to the front porch. He looked inside and cursed under his breath.

From his view outside the window he saw a little girl with wispy black hair no older than seven in a kitchen, standing on her toes to reach for the faucet, cup in hand. She poured herself a glass of water and turned toward the window. He quickly ducked his head out of her vantage point and heard the soft sound of the creaking floorboards grow only slightly louder before it the sound gradually diminished. He lifted his head and peered inside the house again. The girl was nowhere to be seen, no doubt taking her midnight drink to her bed.

His client said nothing about his target having a family. "This guys been fucking with me for years, so don't feel too bad about killing him. He's a murderer. Just like me, and just like you, Otari. " His client had a finished with a sickening smile. But that wasn't his real name, only an alias he had been using since the conclusion of the Fourth World War. Sasuke wasn't stupid. He knew that using his real name would be one of the dumbest things he could do. In addition to not using his actual name, he refrained from using his Sharingan any place where he wasn't by himself. He was the only person left who had the Sharingan, or at least a pair of them. It would be easy to identify who he actually was.

He did one more glance at what he could see inside the house and then slowly opened the window. He gracefully slipped inside and listened for any noise to make locating the man easier. In the silence of night he heard the softest snore emitting itself from above the staircase on the second floor. Knowing that it was probably his best bet, he moved like a shadow in the darkness to the stairs, but couldn't help but look at the pictures that lined the walls.

His eyes slowly focused on one of them which was slightly illuminated by the moonlight flooding through the window. It was of the man and a woman with two girls an older one probably ten and the same girl he had saw just earlier. The picture to the right, was of the man slightly younger, smiling with same the woman, belly was swollen with pregnancy who was holding the hand of a little girl. Sasuke thoughts were abruptly broken when he heard a choked sob emit from the hallway that he assumed the younger girl had disappeared through. He heard a door open and frantic steps rushed toward his direction.

As quickly and as quietly as possible. He hid in the kitchen; his back pressed against the wall. The sobs still came from hallway and had not followed the footsteps bounding up the stairs. He could only hear part of the child's plea as he heard a door open. "Daddy... crying about mommy..." A few moments passed and the stairs creaked as now two pairs of feet creaked on the steps this time. Sasuke peaked his head around the corner.

He saw his target, the person he was contracted to assassinate, holding the hand of the small girl he saw earlier attempting to quench her thirst, who seemed to now be on the verge of tears. The stifled cries of grief had not yet stopped by the time the man went down the hallway to his daughter's room.

"Honey, sshhh, she's in a better place, now," he heard the man comfort from inside the bedroom. This only seemed to make the cry resound with more grief than before.

The lady in the picture, the mother of the two children, Sasuke concluded had died in some way. And by how the younger girl in the photo with the woman looked almost the same as she did now, he assumed she had not been dead all that long.

"Here, I'll stay with you guys tonight, how's that sound?" The sobs quieted a bit. "Let me just go get a pillow. I'll be right back."

He heard only one pair of feet patter across the floor this time. Sasuke knew that he would have to kill him now, when his children weren't watching. He waited for the man's heavy tread to go up the stairs. He quickly appeared from his place behind the kitchen wall, and as quietly as possible he went up the stairs only making it halfway before he heard a piercing scream behind him. He quickly turned on the stairs and saw the small girl from before staring at him in shock. He must have been too preoccupied with trying to silently climb the staircase to notice her impossibly soft footsteps. He cursed.

The man quickly bounded from around the corner and looked at him. His eyes grew wide with fear. The man seemed to notice his daughter at the bottom step paralyzed in terror. Sasuke notice something ignite in the man's eyes. His target ran at him in an attempt to tackle him over the staircase. Sasuke ducked under the man's arms and expertly flipped him over the railing causing him to land on his back with a echoing thud.

His target was not a ninja, Sasuke had noticed. Any ninja would have been able to land that and not end up on their back, struggling to get themselves off the ground. The smaller daughter rushed over to her father as he lifted himself from the floor, the adrenaline draining from him. Sasuke jumped over railing and landed next to them. The man retreated hugging his daughter close to him.

"Why are y-you in my house? W-what do you want?" He backed away slightly. Sasuke gave no answer as he approached the man. With a ring of metal on metal he drew his sword from its sheath.

"Daddy..." a sob. His eyes averted to the hallway. Sasuke watched as the older of the daughters emerge from her bedroom wiping her eyes with her hands."What's wrong?"

The man followed Sasuke's eyes to his daughter and quickly ran to her, carrying the other, and pressed her behind him. "Please! Do what you want with me. Just don't hurt my daughters. Please!"

The older girl stood there watching Sasuke staring at him with eyes whose innocence had been stolen prematurely. Her face contorted in utter despair as the realization of the situation slammed into her, the realization that she could lose her father. Choked sobs started to rack her small frame.

"Don't feel too bad about killing him. He's a murder. Just like me, and just like you." Those words rang through his mind and echoed off every corner of his conscience. Could he really kill this man, and leave his children without a father and a mother, was he really so heartless? Maybe he was thought. This was would be his sixteenth assassination.

He's a murderer. A murderer.

A murderer.

He's a murderer, just like me and just like you.

Sasuke lowered his sword.

And, his eyes opened to the inside of his bedroom. The light of day effortlessly pierced his retinas and caused him to send a hand to his eyes to act as a shield as he rose from his bed. He needed to remember to draw the blinds closed before he went to sleep every night.

His thoughts unwillingly veered to the dream he had just experienced. It happened no less than a year ago, and the effect it had on him was as boggling as ever. Why had it haunted his nights for all these days? After that contract he never returned back to his client. He opted for another line of service.

He sighed, heavily.

But right now, that's not what bothered him the most. How had he chose an apartment that was literally right next to Sakura's? He had opened his door yesterday to see Sakura leave her apartment, and neither of them said a word to each other, no acknowledgement of any kind. He and Sakura simply went their separate ways.

At that moment Sasuke had realized that she was no longer infatuated with him like she used to be. But, this was no surprise to him. How could it be?

He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, he was in mood to dwell on this subject.

He changed his clothes and went to the kitchen to eat a quick breakfast—just tomatoes and toast. He needed to occupy himself. He had done nothing for the last two days. Only trained. Trying to hone his skills without the help of his Sharingan. He was bored. So very bored. He wondered when Tsunade would assign him a mission, so much so that it was irking him to the point where he was thinking of demanding one just to have something to do.

With no destination in mind he left his home, only to be stopped by the scene before him. There stood Ino Yamanaka, knocking on Sakura's door, with Hinata standing behind her. Ino turned her head to face him and their gazes locked. Her face instantly fell, replaced with one of pure disgust.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" She shouted anger evident in her tone. She quickly closed the gap between them fire in her eyes. Sasuke wasn't sure if she meant why he was here next to her or why he was in Konoha, why he came back.

"I live here." Sasuke said dismissively. He was in no mood to having a staring contest with the Yamanaka girl, so he made to walk around her, but she sidestepped to block his way. His indifferent face was replaced with a deep scowl. "Move," he demanded tersely.

He could see the hate in her eyes, scorching with spite.

He didn't blame her.

"You live next to Sakura?!" This realization seemed to make her all the more livid. "Why would you even choose to do that?!" He thought about telling her that it was a simple coincidence, and that if he knew Sakura was was neighbor, he would have surely opted for a different housing arrangement. He was sure she wouldn't listen, however.

"Ino," came the soft-spoken woman next to her. "We should leave. Sakura's obviously not here."

She doesn't stutter anymore, was the first thought that flowed through his head. What caused her to change her demeanor? His mind couldn't help but wonder to if Naruto had finally realized how much this girl had liked him. Since they were twelve—no, not twelve, so much earlier than that—he had known that Hinata had like Naruto, had idolized him. Everyone knew this, everyone except Naruto.

"Sasuke, if you see Sakura, tell her that we were looking for her, please." She expressed her dislike differently than Ino. She spoke words coated in cold hard courtesy as if pure anger was beneath her. He gave no response to indicate he would do such a task.

A moment passed, and Ino swiftly turned around, her blonde ponytail lightly smacking his body. She stormed off past Hinata. "Asshole." he heard the blonde mutter under breath as she passed the Hyuga. Hinata followed closely behind.

It was late. The sun had set when the small pigeon landed on Kakashi's window sill, pecking at the glass. Kakashi now found himself knocking on the door to Tsunade's office, wondering why she had summoned him.

"Come in!" Kakashi heard the voice from inside say. He opened the door to reveal Tsunade sitting at her desk, scribbling something on a sheet of paper.

"You rang?" He asked closing the door behind him. She put her pen down and looked up at the white haired man.

"I need you to help me out Kakashi," she stated, leaning in her chair.

His eyebrows raised. "Oh?" After ruffling threw the papers on her desk, she came across one and gazed at it intently.

"Here." She gave him the note and watched his expression. His face gave nothing away. He was far too trained to let it do so.

"A team, huh?" His face was expressionless and impassive as he read over the paper in hand.

"The new batch of students just graduated from the academy, and Sasuke is still officially a genin, Kakashi. And just like all other genin, he needs to be placed in a team of three. The Chunin Exams will be soon, so it won't be for too long." The thought was a tad humorous to him. Even after all Sasuke had gone through, he still had yet to past the Chunin Exams and was still technically a genin. Kakashi realized that he was going to be Sasuke's teacher again, whether he could say he was happy about it was a different story.

"And who will be the other two lucky members?" He questioned sarcastically.

"The Hyuga girl, and Akio Hatoyama. Both are considered geniuses, and I believe they will be the only ones to even slightly keep up with Sasuke."

"Do you really think it's wise to put him in a team of genin, though?" He had to admit that he was skeptical of the idea. The two genin probably did not know much of Sasuke, didn't know of his place in the war, or of the crimes he committed against Konoha, but their reactions weren't the ones he worried about. He worried about how Sauske would entertain the notion of being place on a team with two people practically half as young as he was.

"It will teach him some humility." Her toned had a sense of finality to it, so Kakashi didn't push the decision any further. "So, you up to the task, Kakashi?" She continued.

The last genin team Kakashi had led was Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke. He had refrained from leading any genin after those three, but maybe it was time to get back in the business. Maybe this time his team would be somewhat normal. He could only hope. "Well, we'll see, won't we?"

Tsunade smirked. "I think another bell test is in order, Kakashi."

He chuckled and shook his head. "You just might be right."

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Some back story involving the line of work Sasuke was in. He always seemed like a hitman to me, an assassin of sorts. Also, I'm aware not much in relation to story happened this chapter but it will pave the for more later on.

By the way, Daybreak by Maurice Ravel, absolutely gorgeous.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. If there were any grammatical errors please tell me. I love hearing your thoughts. Reviews are absolutely welcome!