Sakura and Hinata came back from their shopping trip where they bought decorations and groceries to get ready for the party they're organizing in honour of Itachi. Hinata was putting away the snacks and the Sake, while Sakura arranged the decorations in the meantime for them to put up. Looking at all the bunting flags she had to put up made her feel exhausted before doing any work. "I wish Naruto was here, he'd get all this done in no time." She expressed fondly. Hinata smiled affectionately before a worried expression took over her, "I wonder what's taking him so long. He should have been back by now. Do you think everything's okay?" she asked Sakura, who responded with a comforting smile saying, "I'm sure everything is fine. You know how he is; he's probably just running away from helping us out. I'm sure he's goofing around with Gamakichi or something." Although Hinata knew Sakura could be right, she still didn't find those words comforting. Lately Naruto was going out on so many nightly patrols and she wondered if his instincts were right, as they usually are. Nevertheless, she smiled back at Sakura and changed the subject so she wouldn't make her worry alongside her.

"You're right, it must be that. So, Sasuke has been back for a while now, and Itachi returning as well, must have made him quite happy." Sakura recounted to herself how worried she had been for Sasuke when she learned of Itachi's return. Although Itachi's return was miraculous and she was sure it was what Sasuke wanted more than anything, she couldn't help but think he would be so overwhelmed by this, as he usually would be with such situations. However, it seemed he was coping much better than she expected him to. He even asked her out on a date! She blushed as she recalled the intimacy that they shared last night at Senju Park.

"Sakura?" Hinata called her out of her thoughts.

She looked up at Hinata, and with a warm smile she disclosed, "Hinata, it finally happened. We had our first date."

"Oh my! Tell me everything!" She said excitedly.

Naruto performed the reverse summons and reappeared in the hallway of his apartment. "Man, that was some tough training…" he sighed exhaustedly, but then bumped a fist into his palm as stated triumphantly to himself, "… but this is sure to give me the upper hand against Sasuke and Itachi."

"Oh my! Tell me everything!"

"Huh?" he heard his wife cry out from the living room.

"He just showed up at my apartment after I got home from my shift and asked if I wanted to go out on a date with him. I was so shocked at first, I definitely didn't expect it, and I think it was a while before I even responded, but it was great…"

'That's Sakura! A date? With WHO?!' Naruto tiptoed a bit closer to listen more intently. He wondered if Sasuke finally got over his sulking.

"He bought me a rose, and we walked to Senju Park…" Sakura started to detail the events of her date to Hinata.

'A rose? That doesn't sound like something Sasuke would do…' Naruto mused to himself.

"We sat on a bench overlooking the river. It was incredibly intimate! And then he told me that there could never be anyone else for him but me. Hinata, I've never been happier."

'That definitely doesn't sound like something Sasuke would say.' That was when the realization hit him that Sakura went out with a guy that wasn't Sasuke, 'Shit! That idiot! He took too long, and she probably got sick of waiting!' Naruto was freaking out. He knew he had to do something to fix this. 'That fucking bastard!' he was so furious at Sasuke's cold and aloof personality that probably ruined any chance of his two best friends finally getting together. No! this won't do. It was time for some extreme meddling on his end. He was also disappointed at Sakura. It hadn't been long since they last spoke about Sasuke. How could she just move on so quickly at the first sign of a guy showing her feelings! ugh…

Just as Naruto was about to walk into the living room to announce his return and then talk some sense into Sakura, he heard her state "I love him. So much, I'm just so happy I could explode!"

'Oh fuck…' This was bad. Naruto had to do something, and he had to do something fast! Without sparing a second thought, he rushed out to find Sasuke.

Itachi was overcome with a myriad of thoughts and emotions. Shisui had been alive all this time! And though Nekobaa would gain nothing by lying about this, he was still having a difficult time processing this information. He should have done more to confirm that Shisui had truly perished from his attempted suicide. This thought brought back a guilt that he had already resolved. Had he known Shisui was still alive back then, perhaps he would not have been cornered into annihilating his clan.

"Itachi…" Ino's voice was filled with sympathy towards him. She could see in his eyes the struggle his mind was going through. What could she do to help? She desperately wanted to say something helpful, however, nothing useful was coming to mind. Therefore, her words ended at calling his name, and instead she placed a comforting hand on his wrist.

"I have to find him." He declared, and Ino nodded along and stated, "We will. I'm sure Rokudaime-Sama would give precedence to this as well." Itachi appeared to believe so as well as he nodded in concurrence with her statement, however, his gaze seemed to be focused on nothing in particular. It was clear that he was still struggling to process everything inwardly, regardless of being responsive to her words.

She found herself wishing that she could read his mind at this moment. Perhaps then she could do more to truly comfort him. If Ino could read Itachi's mind, she would learn that he was currently fearful of facing the friend he knew he had to find, because despite Itachi's reasons for bringing the demise of their clan, Shisui loved both his clan and village equally and he would hate Itachi for not finding another way instead of letting Danzo succeed in his schemes. "Let us return." He said as he headed towards the exit to Nekobaa's den and Ino followed after she gave Nekobaa her thanks and goodbyes.

Sasuke was on his way to Naruto's place to find Sakura. He needed to process what Kakashi presented to him and his usual method of processing his thoughts, walking, amounted to nothing helpful.

"Here!" Naruto appeared from nowhere and forcefully shoved a bouquet of a dozen pink roses in his arms.

"…" Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruto responded to his blank expression with a pout. Sasuke eyed the bouquet then raised an eyebrow at Naruto as he proclaimed emphatically, "I don't know if your wife finally came to her senses and left you, but you must be out of your mind if you think I'm a plausible candidate to warm your nights."

"I'm not giving you those to seduce you, jerk! I'm giving you those to help you with Sakura!" Naruto barked back.

"…" Sasuke deadpanned again.

"YOU TOOK TOO LONG! And now some SCUMBAG weaselled his way into her heart!" Naruto yelled at him to explain what was going on, but Sasuke was still confused, "…"

"Sakura is IN LOVE with some ASSHOLE who isn't YOU!" He yelled again to clarify what was going on.

"What are you on about?" Sasuke asked still confused, "What guy?"

"I don't know who he is, but I heard her say this myself. She's head-over-heels with this fucker, and you, YOU let that happen. All because of your stupid sulking self!"

How could that even be? And Naruto claims he heard Sakura say this herself? But they were out on their first date just last night! This doesn't make any sense. If she was in love with someone else, then why did she agree to go out with him in the first place? And why would she agree to go to the party with him too? Something isn't right. "Calm down, loser, and explain what you heard." He asserted.

"She said some asshole showed up at her place last night, gave her a rose that made her all giddy, took her to the most romantic spot in the village, and told her that he knew she was the only one for him!"

Sasuke's eyes widened at the details of his night with Sakura being recounted to him and his ears flushed red.

"This guy is good! He has moves and you honestly don't stand a chance against him. But you got something that this guy doesn't…" Naruto sheepishly announced, "I'm gonna help you win her back".

"…" Sasuke deadpanned again, 'what is this loser saying?' clearly, he doesn't know that this guy was him, and he wondered if he should say something, but he was still feeling embarrassed to reveal that he was the one who was putting these romantic moves on Sakura.

"You're going to give her these roses and make that scumbag look like he's cheap…" Naruto advised, and Sasuke was starting to get upset at being unknowingly sworn at, "… and you're going to tell her that you love her, and you'll break the legs of any man who dares to get in your way!"

Well, he wasn't wrong. He would definitely break the legs of any man who would dare to approach her, but he wasn't going to let this idiot tell him what to do, nor was he going to reveal that he was the so-called scumbag in question.

Sasuke threw the bouquet onto the ground and walked on ahead towards Naruto's apartment.

The blond stared at the soiled roses with his mouth agape in disbelief, then yelled to the Uchiha's back, "Screw you bastard! I'm trying to help you!" in a fit, before running after him.

When Naruto caught up, he was trying to salvage what he could from the bouquet as he exclaimed, "Sasuke, you need to do something about this!"

"It's my problem. I'll deal with it." he asserted.

"Deal with it? you don't have a romantic bone in your body!" Naruto yelled back.

"Hn" Sasuke smugly retorted, 'That's what you know' he mused as he widened his stride to get away from the annoyance that followed him.

"She said she loved him! so much that she could explode!" Naruto yelled at him once again in an attempt to get him to take this more seriously. Sasuke stopped midstep at hearing those words, smiled to himself then continued to walk on to the idiot's place to meet Sakura.

A/N:

I love it when Naruto is a goofball

Next chapter:

Meeting Kakashi to disclose what happened at Mount Myuboku and Itachi revealing that Shisui is alive.