So, I hoped the last chapter captured your interest.

I promise you're going to love it from here on out!

ENJOY!

Episode 9 – HE'S BACK

How could I let this happen? Sasuke thought to himself sadly.

The first time I feel this way for a girl, and it almost ends up with me being killed. What have you gotten yourself into, Sasuke?

Sasuke hung from the walls in silence. Kaiya, Orochimaru and Kabuto were now long gone.

Sasuke was covered in bruises, cuts and scratches. His left arm was broken from being thrown into the wall twice during the battle. His chakra was nearly at absolute zero. He was far too weak to move; not even strong enough to execute an escape jutsu.

Taking one last look around the room, he closed his eyes and wallowed in defeat.

For what seemed like an eternity, a small, gruff voice broke the silence.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes and saw no one.

I… I recognize that voice…

"Down here!" the mysterious person – dog? – growled.

Sasuke looked down.

"…Pakkun?"

"Oh, you're alive, good," he growled softly, examining Sasuke's severely beaten body.

He sniffed.

"Ha, I never thought I'd see an Uchiha look so pathetic… Must've been some fight. Where has all your chakra gone?" Pakkun questioned suspiciously.

Sasuke flinched at Pakkun's remark.

"I'll explain later, Pakkun. Just get me out of here," Sasuke grumbled.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Sasuke had never realized how good it was to be free of something. He secretly indulged in the fresh air as the cool wind whipped his face and hair as he and Pakkun raced through the trees.

Pakkun had given Sasuke a few food pills to get his strength up and had helped Sasuke put his arm into a sling by tearing off part of Sasuke's robe to do so.

Pakkun's expression was tainted with worry as Sasuke had told him everything that had happened, including Orochimaru's plan to destroy Konoha.

"I see…" he muttered as they continued to race though the trees.

"How did you find me, anyway?" Sasuke questioned.

"The elders of the village came to the Hokage and few days ago, both bearing a hunch that Orochimaru was to return. The Hokage had asked Kakashi to send me to gather intelligence on his plan. Finding you was just a bonus," Pakkun explained.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Sasuke and Pakkun had finally reached the gates to the Hidden Leaf, surprisingly, before Orochimaru, Kabuto and Kaiya. He then thought that they must be preparing for their invasion.

Kakashi greeted them at the gate, his expression altering as it came to rest on Sasuke. He walked over to him hastily.

"Why are you here?" Kakashi demanded softly, his eyes darting back and forth to make sure no one had spotted Sasuke.

Kakashi examined Sasuke's battle wounds.

"Hmm… Never mind; first, we will get you some medical attention for those wounds and that broken arm," Kakashi offered, before Sasuke had a chance to explain. "I've also sensed that you're chakra has dwindled down to almost absolute zero. Must've been some fight…"

"Thanks," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"There," the nurse said cheerfully. "You're wounds are all attended to. All you need to do is rest up, got it?"

Sasuke thanked the nurse as she headed for the door.

Kakashi stood up and stopped her. He instructed her not to reveal to anyone that Sasuke Uchiha has returned to the village. She agreed and left.

"So what's Orochimaru's plan?" Kakashi asked Sasuke quietly. He didn't answer.

"He's planning to attack the village, using someone else to do all of the dirty-work for him," Pakkun answered.

"Who?"

Sasuke still wouldn't answer.

"She's a new addition to Orochimaru's assets. From what Sasuke has told me, and by looking at him, she is extremely powerful and dangerous. She is not to be underestimated. Her name is Kaiya Shizuoka, and she has a vast array of deadly jutsu in her arson, and she is not afraid to use them. Although, Sasuke has told me that she is under Orochimaru's control."

"Under his control? How?"

Pakkun and Kakashi looked at Sasuke, who was deliberately staring out the window, trying to hide his hurt expression.

"A curse-mark, so there's no telling how powerful she could really be if she's being controlled by Orochimaru," Pakkun answered.

Kakashi's eyes widened, and then softened.

"So, she's had history with him, hm? Guess we should alert the Hokage as soon as possible," he said solemnly.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Knock knock knock.

"Come in!" Lady Tsunade replied. She was patiently awaiting their arrival at her desk, along with Shizune, Sakura and a few members of the ANBU black ops by her sides.

Lady Tsunade's hard expression didn't diminish when it came to rest on Sasuke, who was tagging behind Kakashi as they entered her office. Lady Tsunade looked up at Sakura from the corner of her eye, who had stiffened up as the boy she had once dearly loved walk through that door. Shizune couldn't help but look at Sasuke with sad eyes.

"Nice to see you finally grace us with your presence," Lady Tsunade spat sarcastically at Sasuke. He just glared at her.

"So, were the elders correct about their hunch?" she asked Kakashi, her tone now serious.

He nodded as he and Sasuke sat down in the seats provided. Sakura wouldn't meet Sasuke's gaze.

"And why did you bring him back?" she said, shooting a nasty glance at Sasuke. "Your mission was to send Pakkun only to gather intelligence about Orochimaru's plan to destroy the village. Sasuke cannot be trusted."

Kakashi immediately came to Sasuke's defense.

"Sasuke is no longer working for Orochimaru," he said.

Sakura's eyes widened slightly as she flinched at this news.

Lady Tsunade narrowed her eyes menacingly at Sasuke.

"How can you be sure of this?" she argued.

Sasuke was tempted to jump from his seat and smack Lady Tsunade across the face, but he resisted.

"I'm not."

Sasuke glanced at Kakashi in bewilderment.

He's defending me? After all I've done?

Lady Tsunade refused to argue anymore. She rose from her seat.

"We are late for the meeting with the elders. Come," she said, heading toward the door.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Sasuke was seated at the huge, rectangular table along with the two elders, the Hokage, Kakashi, Sakura, several ANBU ops, and several Konoha Defense personnel. Two of the ANBU were standing right behind Sasuke's seat, as he "cannot be trusted."

Everyone in the room was trying not to stare at Sasuke. Some were whispering as he had entered the room with Kakashi.

Sakura stared at Sasuke, who was seated directly in front of him. Her expression only expressed slight shock and much anger.

"I have summoned you all here today because we are lead to believe that Orochimaru is secretly planning to again wreak havoc on our village," she said slowly.

Hushed, frantic whispers filled the room. Tsunade ignored them and continued.

Sakura stared at Sasuke intently. How did he receive such wounds? And where has all his chakra gone? I can barely sense any of it… And more importantly, why has he come back? To help? That's not like Sasuke at all…

"As we all remember from our village's last encounter, Orochimaru will not rest until he sees the destruction of the Hidden Leaf. Such a rumour is to be treated with all seriousness and sorted out immediately."

More hushed whispers.

"First off, we have no knowledge of who Orochimaru has recruited, whether how strong he or she is, his or her origin, nor of the powers he or she may possess. This is why we need to seek action as soon as possible."

"What can we do? What ever it is, Lady Hokage, you name it," one of the Hidden Leaf personnel said promptly as he saluted her.

Lady Tsunade turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I need you in my office, now," she said. She then turned to face the rest of the people. "As for everyone else, meet back here in one hour with all the people you deem fit for this mission. Assemble anyone and everyone you can. We need half on defense and the rest on offense. This is serious, people!"

"What about the people?" Kakashi asked.

Tsunade had forgotten about that.

"We shall not alert the people until we can be sure of when and how Orochimaru will attack the village. Kakashi, you and Iruka will recruit 50 other Jonin when the time calls for evacuation. Until then, no one is to speak a word of this to anyone!"

Immediately, the whole room dismissed and left to go recruit others.

"Sakura, I will see you in my office too."

Sakura was stunned. "But, m'lady—"

"Now, Sakura!" she boomed as she left; Shizune, Sasuke, Kakashi and two ANBU trailing behind her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A few minutes later, they were gathered in Lady Tsunade's office. The tension was extremely thick. Sakura was growing angrier by every second she was in the same presence as Sasuke. But she still couldn't meet his smoldering, onyx eyes. But right now, this didn't bother Tsunade one bit.

They all sat in silence as Sasuke had finished confessing all he knew about Kaiya and Orochimaru's plans.

"Kaiya?" Tsunade echoed. Sasuke nodded. "Hmm… She was here a few weeks ago requesting you for a mission… Ah, never mind. She's no more than a threat now, although she seems quite powerful; unlike anything we've ever dealt with before," Tsunade muttered, slightly stunned at the possibilities of Kaiya's strength.

Lady Tsunade turned to Sakura.

"Sakura, under no circumstances are you to tell Naruto that Sasuke has returned. Do you hear me?"

Sakura gasped. "But, m'lady—"

"—No buts, Sakura," Tsunade snapped, cutting Sakura off. "We need Naruto focused if he is to help with the take down of Orochimaru and Kaiya. I don't want them to see each other, let alone know of each others presence. That's an order."

Sakura's expression turned cold and hard. "Naruto… has every right to know that Sasuke is back," she spat slowly.

Tsunade glared at Sakura, but Sakura glared just as hard back.

"Naruto may not be able to handle it," Tsunade said slowly, but nastily.

Sasuke scowled up at Sakura, trying to tempt her with his suave, onyx eyes. "You better listen to her, Sak—"

"YOU SHUT UP!" Sakura shouted, and with that, in a flash she vaulted over Tsunade's desk with one hand and delivered a mighty punch to Sasuke's face. The wooden door shattered into a million pieces as Sasuke flew through it and collided with the wall in the hallway.

When Sasuke looked up, Sakura was breathing heavily, her eyes wild with rage. Her outstretched fist was shaking. She then began to stride slowly toward Sasuke. She reached down and picked him up by the scruff of the neck and pulled him close, so her mouth was just touching his ear. The fear in Sasuke rose slightly as he felt Sakura's hot breath down the side of his neck.

"Now hear this: I don't care about the fact that you've come back. I don't care that you're not working for Orochimaru anymore, but I swear that I will be telling Naruto you're here, and if you so much as try to rise up any unfinished business from the past, I swear that I will finish you, understand?"

Sasuke said nothing; he just stared at her in utter shock. Her green eyes were aflame and tears of anger slowly formed in the corners of her eyes.

She… she hit me…? I… I thought after all these years that she would be at least… a little happy to see me… I guess I really didn't know how much influence I had on her…

Sakura dropped Sasuke back on the ground, hard, and stormed off.

Sakura slowly trudged the busy streets of the village, her heart filled with hurt, confusion, anger, sadness and relief. People pushed past, but she ignored them.

I can't believe that after all these years… After all the training… After all the searching… He… He's finally back… I-I don't believe it…

Memories of the days when Sasuke was still apart of Team 7 flooded her thoughts. The memories that played over and over were the ones where Sasuke had stepped in to protect her; such a gesture was not expected of Sasuke, even in battle. Then, all the memories of the Chuunin Exams plagued her thoughts; the evil, purple chakra rising from within Sasuke, the black tattoo flames covering his entire body, the evil in his eyes was unrecognizable. And, that fateful night when he had left forever was still vivid in her thoughts. Up until a few months ago, this memory played in her mind every day, until she had learned to shut it out completely and start anew. No more would she wait on Sasuke to return. Naruto was still determined as ever, but unlike him, her heart was tired of hurting, and tired of being mended and broken, over and over. You could say that nowadays, even the slightest mention of Sasuke didn't interest her at all. You could even say that she despised him; her love for him diminishing down to almost nothing.
Long gone were her fantasies of Sasuke suddenly appearing at the gates, begging for forgiveness; the ones where Sasuke would appear on her windowsill at night, stating that he escaped from Orochimaru and came back for her; the ones where Naruto would go off on a mission and unexpectedly return with Sasuke by his side, their hatred for each other gone.
Every day since her beloved Sasuke left her, she swore to herself that the day he came back, no matter how many years it had been, no matter what he had done, no matter whom he had killed or no matter how much he had changed, she would still welcome Sasuke in with open arms.
Instead, she greeted him with a sweet left hook to the face and a nasty speech. She wanted to feel the love she once felt for him again, but she knew better. She wasn't the same, naïve pinkette she was three years ago.

"Sakura!" a high pitched, familiar voice shouted, snapping Sakura from her thoughts. She looked up to see the always beautiful Ino running up to her. Sakura immediately shook her mind of these thoughts and focused on Ino.

"Hey Sakura! You busy later?" she asked cheerfully, flicking her long blonde fringe from her blue eyes.

"Kinda, why?" she giggled, the sadness disappearing from her voice. Ino's face fell.

"Oh… Well I was wondering if you had time to come down to the flower shop and help me bring in the new season's flowers…" she said, her gaze falling to the dirt beneath their feet.

Sakura giggled again. "Sure! I'd love to help! But I'll be down there in about half an hour; I promised Naruto I'd meet him at Ichiraku's for some ramen."

Ino's smile returned. "Thanks, Sakura!" she chirped as she turned to leave. "I'll seeya then!" she called as she ran back in the direction from which she came.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Sakura!" Naruto beamed as Sakura ducked under the canvas flaps of Ichiraku's Ramen shop. His bright smile and the way his blue eyes sparkled every time he saw Sakura never failed to make her smile. "What took you so long?" he demanded. Her smile fell.

"Oh… I, uh, had an important meeting with Lady Tsunade, I'm sorry I was so long…" she said softly, the punch she had delivered to Sasuke still fresh in her mind.

Naruto giggled softly. "Nah, don't worry about it!" he assured as Sakura sat down beside him. "Oh, by the way, I kinda ordered for you. I hope that's okay…" he said, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand.

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Naruto broke it. He had noticed the way Sakura was tuned out to the world around her, the way she did when she was upset.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked softly, resting his hand on Sakura's shoulder.

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at him. "Hm? O-oh, I'm sorry Naruto," she stuttered, flicking a whisp of her hair from her eyes. Her gaze then returned to her half eaten bowl. "I'm fine."

Naruto refused to believe it. "Sakura, I've known you for years, I can tell when you're upset…" he said sympathetically. She looked up at him, her eyes now filled with sadness, his blue eyes burrowing their way into hers.

Sakura hesitated.

It would kill him if he never knew Sasuke was here… I can't keep that from him, it'd destroy him. He's been so determined to find Sasuke… He's never given up. His training has increased over the past year. He can't be this close to Sasuke and not know it…

"…He's back…" she muttered.

Naruto blinked and tilted his head slightly, the way he always did when he was confused.

"Who's back…?" he asked slowly.

"Naruto…" Sakura stammered slowly and deliberately, now turning to meet his confused eyes. "He's back…"

I hope you all enjoyed that!

So what happens now?

Will Sakura forgive Sasuke for leaving?

What will Naruto do?

Can Naruto look past everything that has happened between him and Sasuke and focus on defeating Orochimaru?

Will Sasuke heed Sakura's cruel warning and not arise any unfinished business between him and Naruto?

Tune in to the next chapter to find out!

P.S - thankyou to ALL the loverly peoples out there who have been reading and posting reviews! I greatly appreciate it!

Peace, xx