Chapter 14 – A lot has been going on.
Pant. Pant. Pant
'Come on Sakura! Faster!'
'I'm trying Inner!'
It's been a week since they've been back.
'Well you're not trying hard enough!'
It was heard that Naruto was seen entering the gates.
'The bastard didn't even say anything when we talked a couple of days ago!'
Neji was running right beside her and she could feel his soft gaze on her and she thanked the heavens for sending them to each other.
With that thought and a soft smile, she slammed Tsunade's office's door open; startling the people inside.
"Haruno-Hatake Sakura! You know better than to barge into my office like that young Lady!"
Ignoring her mentor for a moment Sakura's smile turned into a grin at seeing the head of sunshine blonde.
"Naruto!"
"Sakura-chan!"
With a high pitched squeal Sakura lunged into the waiting arms of her hearts brother and they both began talking a mile a minute, much to the amazement and annoyance of the room's occupants.
Now it was true that Neji grew out of his jealousy from Naruto and Sasuke, but he still didn't like the idea of anybody else touching her like that. So when Tsunade yelled at them to 'Be quiet and stop acting like a bunch of three year olds!' he would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit satisfied.
He was even more satisfied when Naruto suddenly smashed into the ground with a loud thunk sporting a bump on his head.
"What was that for, Sakura-chan!?"
"For not telling me that you were coming when we talked the other day!"
"But I wanted to make it a surprise …" Mumbled Naruto.
"No, buts!" Said Sakura sternly, while giving him a death glare.
Tsunade sighed. She was getting too old for this.
"Alright you two. Out of my office. Go celebrate or something, and let the grownups talk."
Before Naruto could start yelling about 'being a grown up, too! Dettebayo!' Sakura was dragging him out by the ear with Neji trailing behind them while wearing a smirk on his face.
When the door was closed Tsunade turned to look at Jiraya and raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know what you two have been doing these past years Jiraya, but it obviously wasn't training. He's still as childish as when he left .. maybe even more!"
"Tsunade-Hiiiiiiiiimeeeeee! Of course we trained! That was the whole purpose of going out of the village!" He started whining childishly, which had Tsunade sweat dropping.
'Now I know why Naruto didn't mature. He was stuck with an older whinier version of his-self.'
"Alright, alright! You big baby! Debrief so I could kick you out of my office!"
It's been a little over three months since Naruto came back. He tried locating Ino a lot, but every time he gets close, she disappears.
He really wanted to talk to her. It got to a point where Sakura had to pry out the information from him. Usually he was a blabber mouth, but recently he had been quite and had an annoyed look on his face. Or so Sakura claimed.
When he -finally- told her what was bothering him, she smiled and gave him a little debriefing about what happened after both he and Sasuke left the village.
Apparently Sasuke had showed an interest in Hyuuga Hinata before he left -This shocked him beyond words- and Ino, who was still not out of her fangirl-Over-Sasuke phase at that time, had caught wind of this, and tried to belittle Hinata to scare her and make her forget about Sasuke.
That didn't go as she planned, because while Hinata gained a lot of confidence and lost her stutter since mending her relationship with Neji, she still stayed a quiet, peaceful girl. The only people who knew that were her close circle of friends and family who she interacts with on a daily basis. Which led to Ino's miscalculation, and then her shock, when Hinata stood up for herself, and stated that under no circumstances would she allow Ino, or anybody else for that matter, to tell her what to, or not to, do. She told Ino that she was interested in Sasuke as much as he was interested in her, and that Sasuke was the one who initiated contact with her, and that she was not willing to stop him because it made her happy.
Ino, after she got over her shock, noticed that Sakura and Tenten were giving her disapproving stares. So, she got up, turned swiftly on her heal and left their weekly gathering.
Sakura and Tenten decided to give her a couple of days to cool off and then find her to get her to see reason and logic. But Ino, as she has been doing with Naruto these past months, kept disappearing. The girl just didn't want to be found.
They were pleasantly surprised when she showed up to the next weekly gathering, and stiffly apologized to Hinata for the week previous.
Sakura admitted that there was something off about Ino's apology and demeanor that day, and that she still isn't as open as before when around Hinata, but that was to be expected as after effects of 'getting over Sasuke.'
But Sakura admitted that Ino never said anything about having an interest in Naruto, thus everybody's astonishment.
After that, Naruto went home, feeling a bit wary. He felt off for a reason but couldn't put his finger on the reason.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when he reached his apartment floor and saw the object of his thoughts leaning against the wall next to his door, with the back of her head resting on the wall, tilted up, and her eyes closed. Her face had a soft smile on it. She must be thinking about something that's making her happy.
Naruto leaned on a wall a little further down the hall and observed her. She was wearing her typical purple outfit, her legs, midriff and arms showing.
As Naruto continued to examine her, he admitted to himself that she was quite beautiful.
After ten minutes of just staying still, being who he was, Naruto couldn't stand the stillness and silence anymore. So he drew closer and got in Ino's face.
When she still didn't move, he nudged her gently, and whispered her name softly. Now don't be too shocked at his quietness. He had seen firsthand what would happen to him should he ever startle a konoichi –ahem Sakura ahem- and he didn't want that to happen again, thankyouverymuch!
Ino's eyes popped open, and she stared at Naruto with a look of shock. She either hadn't sensed him or was shocked by his thoughtfulness. Naruto was leaning towards the latter, since Sakura told him that Ino was a very good sensor, thus, her ability to 'disappear' when she sensed someone near her.
"I've been looking a lot for you lately, Ino." Naruto said softly, with a soft reprimanding look.
Ino looked away guiltily. She still hasn't said a word to him, so Naruto, wanting to give her time to talk at her own pace, offered her to go inside for some tea, and opened the door for her when she accepted.
Stepping inside the apartment, Naruto saw the look of surprise on Ino's face, when she saw the tidiness of his apartment. He chuckled.
"Don't look so shocked, Ino. Being friends with Sakura-Chan and Sasuke-teme makes you –forcefully- pick up some of their habits."
At the mention of Sasuke, a look of determination entered Ino's eyes, as she turned them to look at Naruto, who had already set the tea kettle on the stove.
Seeing this Naruto gestured to the kitchen table and Ino pulled out a chair and sat down with Naruto pulling a chair opposite of her.
Taking in a deep breath to calm her nerves, Ino gave him a smile that he had trouble deciphering, and started talking.
"I'm sorry about the other day, Naruto. It's just that you've been on my thoughts a lot since you left, even before that, and I couldn't contain myself when I saw you. I really missed you Naruto ... k-kun."
She swallowed and then continued. "I was going to talk to you before you left but I couldn't muster up the courage to do so."
She gave him a watery sad smile that made feel weird. He was about to talk when the tea kettle went off and he had to get up.
While preparing the tea, he could feel Ino sigh in relief behind him.
Naruto was confused. Sure he was happy that he finally got a girl's –a hot girl's- attention, but something was off. Something was tingling in the back of his mind, scratching, and begging to be let out, but he didn't know what it was.
Hiding his frown when he turned to face Ino, he placed a cup of tea in front of her, and took his seat again.
Ino took a sip from her cup with a trembling hand, and a grimace. Her features turned neutral after realizing that the tea wasn't horrible like she suspected.
"So," Began Naruto, "What is it, exactly, you would like me to do?"
Sakura was in the middle of her training session with Kakashi when she felt it. A burning so bad in her right shoulder, where the seal she shared with Sasuke was, had her bending over in pain, and almost get hit by her former teacher.
"Sakura? What's wrong?" Asked a worried Kakashi.
"S-Sasuke.."
Kakashi stiffened. "I didn't know that it caused this much pain when he communicates with you."
"I-it doesn't. it looks like he's in trouble to be sending this much chakra into the seal!"
Kakashi was alarmed. One of his students might be in danger and he didn't know what to do!
Sakura spoke up before he could move a muscle. "I-I think that I'm about to pass out so we could talk, take me to Shishou's office Kaka-sensei!"
And she fainted.
As fast as anybody had ever seen him moving, Kakashi had Sakura in his arms and was barging into Tsunada's office, explaining to a half drunk Hokage, what was going on.
"Sasuke?! Sasuke?!"
"I'm here Sakura!"
"What's going on!? Why can't I see you?!"
"I'm not meditating. Sakura, listen to me! This is important!"
"Okay! Okay!"
"Orochimaru decided he wanted to take my body early so no-one from Konoha could try to stop him. He's going to do it in seven days. It takes that much time to prepare for!"
"Okay! I should be in Shishou's office right now. I'll tell her right away!"
"Sakura .."
"Yes, Sasuke?"
A pause.
"Please, hurry. And ... and if anything happened to me ... tell.." A sigh. Then "Tell my family, and Naruto that I love them. And I love you too. And .. tell .. tell Hinata that .. that I'm sorry."
"You don't want me to tell her that you love her?"
"No. If she is to ever know that I love her ... I want to be the one to tell her. And if I can't" -Another sigh- "Then I don't want her to hang her life on me. I want her to find someone who loves her, someone that she could be happy with. It will be easier for her to do that if she never knew that I loved her .. if she wasn't hung up on me..."
"It's too late for that Sasuke."
"What do you mean?"
"Hinata is already hung up on you. She's been waiting for you to get back even before you stepped outside the village. So don't you dare die, Sasuke."
Sasuke smirked, but he still had a soft look in his eyes. He thanked God that Sakura couldn't see him at the moment.
"Hai."
He said it with so much determination that Sakura actually believed that he could take on the snake sannen alone.
Smiling softly, Sakura cut the connection between them, and woke up with tears pouring onto her cheeks.
At seeing her tears, Fugaku's stomach dropped. Itachi's heart sank, and Shisui's stomach churned, on the verge of losing everything in it, maybe even more.
When Sakura looked around, she saw the three, with Kakashi, Tsunade, Neji and the third surrounding her on the couch.
She smiled at the three to reassure them that Sasuke was still alive. The three breathed out a sigh of relief, some more noticeably than others, and stepped back to give her some space.
Squeezing Neji's hand that was in hers she looked Tsunade in the eye and said, "We have to start moving. Orochimaru is going to take over Sasuke's body soon. We have a week till the preparations are done."
Tsunade's look hardened.
"Shizune! Get me both Nara's, Shiranui Genma, Mitarashi Anko and Uzumaki Naruto in here! Now!"
"Yes, Tsunade-sama!"
"Hatake Kakashi, Haruno-Hatake Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Shisui and Hyuuga Neji, the seven of you are to go to Orochimaru's hideout, assassinate him and bring back Uchiha Sasuke with you. Your priority is Sasuke. Whatever happens, don't let Orochimaru take his body, and do not let anything happen to him. Even if you are not able to kill Orochimaru. Bring. Sasuke. Back. Am I clear?"
"Hai!"
It took them two days to reach the hideout. How no-one noticed it when it was in The Fire Country's borders was beyond all of them.
It was a shady looking building, but after one look from Sakura and Neji, they figured that the actual hideout was under the building.
Stopping a good distance away from the building, so that they won't be detected, but still in Neji's range (He naturally had a larger range than Sakura because he had his byakugan from when he was born, and activated it at three, while Sakura didn't have her eyes for that long.) they all turned to Kakashi -their leader- to know what the plan is.
Kakashi threw two pens at Neji and Sakura, which they caught, and ordered them to draw the outline of the base on a scroll.
They unrolled the scroll, knelt on the ground and after some discussion between the two, Sakura started drawing the first floor on the right, while Neji drew the second (bottom) floor on the left.
When they were done, everybody crouched in a circle around the scroll.
"Sasuke-san is here." Said Neji as he drew a mark in the second floor.
"Orochimaru and Kabuto are here." Said Sakura as she drew a mark on the first (upper) floor.
"The place is crawling with Orochimaru's experiments. There's 50 of them. They are mostly centered here, though." Said Neji as he wrote 34 inside what represented a big room on the first floor. Then he continued, "The others are scattered around the base, there are three of them with Sasuke-san. This here," said Neji marking a room in the second floor, on the opposite side of Sasuke's location, "And these two," he said marking two rooms close to it, "are being guarded by three people each, two on the outside, and one on the inside for each room. The other four are patrolling the base."
Kakashi looked at the map one more time, before looking at the Nara next to him, "Any ideas, Shikamaru?"
Said person sighed, "Troublesome, but yeah ... I kinda do have an idea." He said while sticking his pinky inside his ear.
"Well then, lazy guy, let's hear it." Said Genma rolling his trademark senbon in his mouth.
Ignoring the womanizer, Shikamaru turned to look at Sakura. "You can contact Sasuke, correct?"
At this Sakura nodded.
"Okay, then this is what I've been thinking about ..."
Sasuke sighed. He was really starting to get annoyed with the three females around him. He really didn't want anything to do with them. They were nowhere near Hinata's level. He let out a sigh at the thought of her. He couldn't wait till he got back so he could ask her out.
A few moments later, he felt the seal on his right shoulder tingle. Sitting in a meditative style, he ignored those around him, and concentrated on the seal, opening his eyes inside his mindscape, he was greeted by both Sakura and Naruto.
"Hey, ya teme!" Naruto greeted him with a cheerful grin.
"Why are you here, Dobe?"
"Well, Sakura-Chan doesn't have the heart to tell you, so I'm here to do it instead!" Naruto answered with the widest grin known to mankind.
Sasuke gave him a flat look, while Sakura looked at Naruto as though he was an alien.
"Tell me what, Dobe?"
"Well, you see teme, we don't have the reinforcements, or will to come and save you. We've been talking about it for a couple of days, and decided that you're just not worth it anymore. You agreed to go on this mission, meaning that you were already corrupted in the first place. So, we'll leave you with the snake guy."
And Naruto was promptly punched a few feet high into the air and back a few, well maybe a lot of, feet courtesy of Sakura.
"You moron!" Yelled Sakura, "Now is not the time for playing pranks! You're only here because you were too thick-headed and couldn't understand the plan from the first time!"
"But Sakura-Chan ..."
"No buts, Naruto!"
After sending one last glare at Naruto, she turned to Sasuke, who had a smirk on his face, "Sasuke, we're a small distance away from the hideout, and I'm here to tell you the plan because you are a part of it."
Sasuke nodded his head, to show that she has his full attention.
"Okay, this is the plan ..."
Sasuke opened his eyes to see that the three girls were still around him.
'The first stage is that you get rid of the three people that are with you in that room.'
Sasuke got up and activated his sharingan.
"Hey Sasuke-kun, I think I feel that someone is approaching the base." Said a redheaded girl.
"I'm sure that you're right, Karin." Said Sasuke while pulling out his Katana and getting closer to the girl.
Said oblivious girl turned to smile smugly at the two other girls, when she felt a sharp pain in her chest. Looking down she saw a tip of a katana she knew well.
"S-Sasuke-kun?"
But Sasuke wasn't listening, he pulled his weapon out and Shunshined to behind the two other girls, getting rid of them, too.
'Then, head out of the room, and try to kill both guards that patrol that floor. It takes each of them about 20 minutes to reach the door to the room that you're in. When you've gotten rid of them both head to the upper level. You might come across Genma and Shikamaru. They are going to the three locked rooms to check them out. Do you know what's in there?'
'No.'
After killing the two guards, he headed for the stairs, but not before he saw the last guard to the rooms drop dead.
'Don't worry about the two patrolling guards of the upper level, we would take care of them.'
When he reached the first floor, he found the two dead a few feet away. So he continued without even a second glace.
'Kakashi-sensei, Anko and Shisui are going to head straight to Orochimaru and Kabuto. The rest of us are going to the big room on the upper level to get rid of the experiments there.'
He could hear the fights going on in the 'entertaining' room. Explosives and yelling was heard from down the hall as he increased his speed.
'You are to meet us there. We have to get rid of all of them before continuing onward to help Kaka-sensei and the others.'
Sasuke barged into the room to see one of 'the beasts' -as he calls them- about to attack the Dobe from behind. Acting quickly, he threw a kunai that embedded itself hilt-deep into the beasts' skull.
"I see that your skills haven't improved yet, Dobe."
"Neither have yours, teme." Said Naruto as one of his clones attacked a beast that was about to attack Sasuke.
The both of them turned back-to-back to face the beasts that were around them.
"Let's show 'em what were made of, teme!"
"Hn, Dobe."
"Not without me, you two!" Said Sakura as she jumped next to them.
"Alright! Team 7 is back! Dettebayo!"
And with that they attacked simultaneously.
What was weird though, was that Sakura was using Fire jutsues and the gentle fist. Shaking his head, Sasuke concentrated on his own battle. He'll ask about that later.
15 minutes later all the beasts were dead.
"Let's go!" Commanded Itachi, while giving Sasuke a nod. He would reunite with his brother properly, once he was sure that they were out of danger.
Arriving at the room Orochimaru was in, they found it to be a lab. The roof was blown off and Orochimaru was on a giant snake that was being brought down by Shikamaru and Anko.
Kakashi, Genma and Shisui were fighting Orochimaru, along with the ninken.
Jumping into the fray, team seven landed beside their teacher, while Neji went to help bring down the summon, and Itachi showed up next to his cousin.
"Sasuke ... It's good to see you."
"You too sensei."
"So it's true then Sasuke? You've been manipulating me and Kabuto this whole time?"
Sasuke just Hn-ed while looking around for Kabuto. How on earth did he forget about Kabuto?
"He's dead!" Hissed Orochimaru. "Your sensei made sure of it!"
Well, somebody sure was pissed.
"Enough talking! Let's give this guy what he deserves! Dettebayo!"
With that Orochimaru found himself at the receiving end of six attacks, each from a legendary Ninja. His body was already weak. Nobody, not even Sasuke knew this, but the body he was in now, didn't last as long as he hoped. That was the reason he wanted to take over Sasuke's body earlier.
But alas, his plans failed. And now, he was going to die.
But let it not be said that Orochimaru went down without a fight.
Three days, a lot of healing, bone crushing hugs(everybody had to hug Sasuke. And yes, even Genma and Anko. Shikamaru declined though, much to Sasuke's relief) and thousands of explanations (About what was going on in the village, and why does Sakura use Hyuuga and Uchiha techniques, and 'Holy shit! Sakura-Chan! You've creepy eyes just like the teme's!') later the group found themselves entering the hidden leaf village, with a scroll containing Orochimaru's body and another containing Kabuto's, both tucked securely into Kakashi's Jonnin vest, wearing large smiles.
Word spread fast on the return of Uchiha Sasuke and his mission. The Patriarch of the Uchiha clan and his wife made their way to the Hokage tower as fast as they could.
Opening the door to Tsunade's office, Mikoto felt her heart release all the worry she had been feeling since her younger son left, and she pulled him into a hug.
She expected him to pull away, or be stiff in front of his friends, but she was pleasantly surprised when he hugged her back and buried his head into her neck.
"I missed you, Kaa-san." Whispered Sasuke so that only she could hear.
That broke her heart even more and she started sobbing while refusing to let him go, not that Sasuke minded.
"Jeez, Aunt Mikoto. You're acting like he got back from the dead." Said Shisui.
Seeing that this was getting her nowhere productive, Tsunade turned to Kakashi and asked, "Is he dead?"
"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Answered Kakashi while handing her the scrolls.
"Alright! You're all dismissed! Be back here tomorrow at 8 AM sharp for a proper debriefing. Mikoto, take your son and go home. And Hatake! Don't be late!"
Mikoto practically dragged Sasuke home, had him take a proper shower and fed him till she was satisfied.
Fugaku entered the kitchen and saw his wife trying to feed his second son what seemed to be his third piece of carrot cake.
"Let him go Mikoto. I'm sure he has a lady waiting for him right about now."
At this Sasuke blushed. How on earth did they know?
"Ah! Yes, yes. Shisui told us" -'That's how'- "that you are interested in Hinata! My, my Sasuke! I've got to hand it to you that you have great taste in women! Just like your father of coarse ..."
Fugaku tilted his head in the direction of the door, signaling his son to escape, and that he will handle in.
Nodding in thanks Sasuke was passing next to his father when he heard him say, "I'm proud of you, Sasuke."
Sasuke was on cloud nine. He was back home. He's seen his mother. His father finally acknowledged him. And he was on his way to see the girl that plagued his thought through his whole mission.
His world came crashing down when he reached the porch outside of her bedroom and saw her crying on Sakura's shoulder.
Sakura noticed him first, gave him a wink, then shoved Hinata off of her, got up and went inside without explaining anything.
Hinata was too shocked to move. Why did Sakura do that? Did she think Hinata was stupid? Or was that her way of telling her that Sasuke wasn't interested in her anymore? Or –
"Why are you crying?"
Hinata looked up to find Sasuke standing there with his hands clenched in his pockets.
When she didn't answer him, he got in her face and asked, "Who do I have to beat up for making you cry, Hinata?"
Her tears continued while she banged her balled up fists on his chest. "You!" She Sobbed.
"Me?" Asked Sasuke astonished.
"Yes! You didn't come to see me and I thought ... I thought that ..."
"Thought what, Hi-na-ta?" asked Sasuke, looking her in the eyes with a soft look.
"Oh, Sasuke! I missed you so much!" Said Hinata as she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder.
Sasuke picked her up, sat down and placed her on his lap and buried his head into her hair.
He was home. He was home.
Life in Konoha went back to normal. It's been six months since Sasuke's been back and Sakura couldn't be any happier.
Hiashi took Hanabi and Mrs. Hyuuga to visit some relatives, so that left the main house to Neji, Hinata and her. So they decided to invite Sasuke, Naruto and Ino (Naruto's girlfriend) over for dinner.
Sasuke had his arm around Hinata's shoulders and was whispering something to her that made her giggle.
Naruto was with Neji and Sakura in the kitchen, helping bring the dishes over.
Ino couldn't stand the lovy dovy scene in front of her. Her hand tightened on her glass.
What does he see in her?! She's obviously a total fake!
Hinata turned as red as a tomato, when Sasuke suddenly kissed her cheek.
The glass broke in Ino's hand.
"THAT'S IT!" Ino screeched.
"Ino, what's gotten into you?" Asked a wary Sasuke.
"YOU! You've gotten into me! I've been trying to get your attention since you came back! I've been planning to make you love me instead of her! But noooooo, you only have eyes for the freak!"
"What the hell Ino!? You're dating Naruto! My best friend!"
"Ha! Dating he says! I'm just using him to make you feel jealous!"
A plat crashed behind her and she heard a gasp.
Turning around she saw Sakura, Naruto and Neji standing in the doorway. From the hand on her mouth and the plate at her feet, it was obvious that Sakura was the one to make all the noise.
Naruto snorted softly. "You know, from day one I thought something was fishy about this whole thing. I knew that there was nobody who would love me, but I still pushed it to the back of my mind and hoped I was wrong. Heh, the only time I was right and I don't even want to be."
He turned around to leave but Sakura caught his arm. "Naruto ..."
"It's okay, Sakura-Chan. I just need some time alone." He gave her a broken smile that stabbed repeatedly at her heart.
Looking to Neji for guidance, he shook his head in a signal to let things be for now and give Naruto some space.
Reluctantly, she let his arm go.
"Okay ... But!" Naruto looked at her from the corner of his eye, "Take the kittens with you?"
Naruto snorted. "They're not kittens anymore Sakura-Chan. They're more like lions now."
Sakura kissed his cheek and patted his arm and went to gather the 'kittens'. She packed some food for Naruto, too. Though she knew he wouldn't eat it.
After seeing Naruto out, Sakura stomped back to the previous room and saw everybody glaring Ino, who was fidgeting slightly.
"What are you still doing here, Ino?"
"I-I ..."
"You nothing! You are nothing! Get out of here Ino! What you did was despicable! Absolutely outrageous! OUT! OUT INO!"
Ino scurried out of the Hyuuga compound with an empty feeling in her chest.
'What had she done?'
An: Uuuuuuuuuuugh, Hi?
I'm so sorry that it's been a long time since my last update, but I couldn't help it!
I graduated, got engaged, found a new project to work on, began a diet for my wedding (I'm a girl) and I'm planning my wedding!
So, as a sorry from me to you, here's this extra long chapter that is packed with exciting events! :D
I don't know when I'll be able to update again, but I'm planning on finishing this before my wedding.
Sorry that there wasn't a lot of NejiSaku in this chapter :P
Please tell me your thoughts! Thanks
Zee ;)