Watching the Sunrise

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The first rays of light were starting to peek through the Eastern facing window of their balcony. They had forgotten to close the curtains the night before. Sasuke looked at his wife tucked against his left side. She was curled against his naked torso, the upper portion of his mangled arm underneath her upper back. It was nice that though his lower arm was absent, he could still get use of the upper portion. He would try again to accept the prosthetic. Was it pure vanity that his body had rejected the prosthetic subconsciously because he felt he should wear his injury like an advertisement that he made poor choices in the past?

"Why are you scowling so early in the morning?" Sakura murmured against his chest. She reached up and gently massaged the tension between his eyes.

"Let's sit on the balcony, watch the sunrise together," Sasuke suggested, ignoring her question. He took the pair of robes laid across the foot of their bed - shrugged into his and handed Sakura hers. Taking her hand, he led them to the porch. There was a little table and two chairs with an excellent view of the rising sun.

"All we need is a couple of fresh coffees, fruit and few slices of toast and it would be perfect," Sakura said sighing and relaxing into her chair. She smiled over at Sasuke. "Want me to order room service?"

He shook his head. "It's already perfect." The sight of his wife's cheeks burning crimson under the very tiny complement warmed his heart. He reached across and they held hands, watching the sun peek over the golden horizon. "You seemed to recognize Itachi pretty easy. Had you interacted with him much?"

Sakura shook her head. "I saw him around when we were really young a few times. Honestly, my biggest interaction with him wasn't even with your Itachi."

"What do you mean?" He rubbed his thumb in lazy circles over the back of her hand, enjoying the softness of her skin. She complained that her hands were rough from disinfectant, but he disagreed. Her hands were strong, yet delicate. He suspected that her Byakugou seal healed whatever chaffing her hands suffered. Maybe before she'd unlocked that technique they'd been rough, but they certainly weren't now.

"Back when we were sixteen, Obito managed to teleport Naruto and me into another world. In this version, my dad was the Hokage and Naruto's parents were alive. All our friends had bizarre personalities — Hinata was a bully, Ino was shy, Neji and Lee were perverts, Kiba was afraid of dogs, Shikamaru was stupid, Shino hated bugs, and Choji didn't like eating. And Tenten — honestly I don't remember what she was like, but Lee was wearing her pink underwear. And Sai was a terrible artist — Sarada could draw better than him. It was just weird. It really made me appreciate Naruto more —- I hadn't ever truly related to what he must have felt like to come home to any empty house — or you too for that matter."

"I see. What was I like in this other world? Or had I defected in that reality too?" Sasuke tried to imagine their classmates with such odd behaviors. He didn't really know them well aside that Shikamaru was smart, Choji liked to eat, Kiba had a pet dog, Shino used insects, Hinata was incredibly shy, and Ino had a crush on him and was friends with Sakura. Maybe this other version of him had been nice to Sakura in this different reality.

"Oh, you were a real charmer. It had cheered me up significantly that you'd come to my empty house, brought a rose, and claimed you were on my side." Sakura smiled faintly at the memory. "Honestly, it was the first time anyone had given me flowers. I'd been building you up in my mind at that time, hoping you'd find your way back home and maybe even to me. This was a few months before our failed attempts to kill each other."

Sasuke squeezed his wife's hand. His anger had known no bounds at the time he killed Danzo. He'd wanted to watch the world burn—Sakura included. She didn't need to see her precious Konoha destroyed. He'd been out of his mind at the time, so he really didn't know what he was thinking. "I'm glad not every version of me was a jerk. He sounds nicer than I was at the time."

"Oh, you weren't sincere. I was trying to approach you later when I was upset, because Naruto was so happy with his parents and I was so lonely. You were giving another rose and saying the same line to a group of girls. You were very popular," Sakura said. She smiled over at him again, but her eyes were dark with remembered pain.

Sasuke squeezed her hand. "I can't defend that reality of me, but in this one you're the only person I would ever think of giving flowers to and I am on your side from now until the end."

Sakura's eyes welled up and she quickly looked back out at the sunrise, trying to not cry. It was sweet that his words were so moving. "Well, you should also send Sarada flowers too in the future."

"I was speaking metaphorical," Sasuke protested. "I'll even get flowers for your mom. But seriously, you're the only person I've ever remotely been interested in. It's always been you, Sakura, but I didn't want to even imagine a romance until after I had sorted out the mess with my clan and then with my atonement."

"We were kids," Sakura said. "I hadn't experienced any real trauma. My parents married when they were seventeen and my only real goals growing up were to graduate the ninja academy, find a good man, get married, and have a family. I was an only child, so I wanted to have multiple children."

Sasuke chuckled. "I think you've managed those goals and then some." He closed his eyes, wondered for a moment in another reality, if the Uchiha clan hadn't attempted the coup and hadn't been killed, would he have found Sakura? "And Itachi? What was he like in this other world?"

"He was still Akatsuki, but they were a mercenary band that was protecting Konoha. It was pretty amazing having Itachi Uchiha fighting to protect me — much better than him trying to kill us," Sakura said.

"Except, apparently, we never were on the killing intent of my brother — he protected us the whole time," Sasuke pointed out. "Since I won't be home as much as I'd like, I'm glad that maybe he can teach the kids some of the Uchiha techniques — like fireball jutsu. It was a right of passage. One of the best memories I have of my dad was showing him once I had mastered that technique." Sasuke's thoughts drifted to how his brother had taken time off to help him with it. He could hardly imagine being in Anbu so young — doing such terrible things in the shadows while at the same time being a doting older brother. Itachi had been a double agent for most of his life! "Dammit, I wish I could talk to him too."

"I thought you could communicate in dreams," Sakura said.

"We can, but I may not remember what we talk about." The sun had risen completely. Sasuke stood and helped Sakura up. "Dreams are ephemeral." He led her back inside. "Let's get dressed then go downstairs for a light breakfast. I need to prepare for my match."

"Will you start heading back later today?" Sakura asked.

"I'm going to experiment," Sasuke explained. "Since I won't use my chakra in the match— we're sticking to taijutsu, I'm going to see if I can use the Rinnegan and my Susanoo together. I may need to combine the techniques if I have to make a hasty retreat from a hostile environment. And if we'd done that instead of walking here — you wouldn't have had your life in danger."

"Have you tried that at home?" Sakura asked. They'd gone back inside the room and started to dress.

"No." Sasuke stepped into his pants and then his long sleeve shirt, deftly closing the buttons one handed, helping to mask the portion of his missing appendage — gone were the days of running around without a shirt in public. He paused a moment to appreciate his half-dressed wife. Gone were the days of Sakura's flat chest. He knew she was teased about it when they were younger, but she'd always been a lean, lithe kunoichi— a trait he preferred to some voluptuous woman. Anko was a good example of a voluptuous woman who now had way too many curves for his taste. Two pregnancies later and his wife was just the perfect size — in his not so humble opinion.

"Like what you see?" Sakura asked, hands on her hips, breasts and swollen belly still bared.

Sasuke smirked and weighed the options of averting his gaze or touching his wife. He stepped closer and his hand traced over those curves. "I do. And I like knowing that my children are growing inside your womb and that I don't just have to look — you're mine."

Sakura blushed, but instead of looking away in embarrassment pressed herself against him, winding her arms around his neck and kissing the side of his neck. "I don't mind that you don't talk a lot, Sasuke-kun. When you do speak— it's worth hearing."

Sasuke relaxed in his wife's arms. It was really going to be hard not having Sakura's warm embrace throughout the night. It was certainly motivation to learn to master the Rinnegan so he could come home more often. "I was worried the sight of the Susanoo would frighten Sarada. I kind of hope Gaara sees it and is a little frightened." He slid his hand into her hair, and leaned down to kiss her. "Maybe I'm still a little competitive."

After a few more stolen kisses, Sasuke grabbed Sakura's shirt and handed in to her. "If you don't dress now, I'll miss the fight."

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OoO

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The Hidden Village of the Sand had been prepared to host that year's Chunin exams for months, though the official exam wouldn't begin for another two weeks. The visiting shinobi were due to start arriving during the next few days, but as such the arena was all ready for that day's challenge — a repeat of the match between Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara of the Sand from a decade before.

The two masked Jonin from Konoha guarded the East and West points while two masked Jonin from Sand guarded North and South. The stands had only four spectators — Temari and Kankuro supporting Gaara and Sakura and Sai supporting Sasuke.

"I've never actually gotten to see a Chunin Exam, or—" Sai gestured vaguely towards the arena floor. "Whatever this is."

"I just hope they remember to stick to Taijutsu only," Sakura worried. "Otherwise, this arena will be toast."

"We're talented, but if they destroy the arena there's no way we'd be able to repair it before the third round of the exams next month," Temari said. "Well, maybe if we had a bunch of Naruto's shadow clones, but I'm not sure I'd trust him with construction work."

"He is more of a brute force kind of guy," Sakura agreed with a chuckle. She imagined a hundred Naruto Shadow Clones in construction gear shoving sand, constructing beams and whatnot. It actually wouldn't be a bad idea if Yamato took time to train all shinobi in construction. He was the only one with Wood release, but surely his skills translated to learning the basics about structure.

"From your class at the academy — aren't only you and Shikamaru Jonin?" Temari asked.

Sakura nodded. "Neji was Jonin, but he was the class ahead and Sai is Jonin, but he graduated the academy early. Sai? Were you originally in the same class as Neji and Lee?"

Sai nodded. "I liked Neji. I am still sad he did not survive the war."

"We all are," Sakura admitted. "I shared quite a few missions with Neji. He was a very good leader." There had been several times, when she thought that the Hyuga prodigy and Sasuke had shared a lot of parallels. They'd both been from prominent clans with coveted ocular powers and experienced great trauma as children. And they were both gorgeous.

"Neji Hyuga was a talented child," Itachi agreed. He materialized in front of Sakura and sat on the bench next to her. "Sasuke's taijutsu looks clean," he commented, staring ahead at the match.

Sakura did her best to not talk to Itachi directly. It was kind of special to be rooting for Sasuke together even if her husband couldn't see his brother.

"We don't get to watch a single fireball?" Sai asked. "This is more of a sparing match. Too boring." He took out a scroll and began to illustrate several small dragons across the page.

"What are you doing?" Kankuro asked, leaning over and peering at the scroll.

Temari clapped her hands together in excitement. "Yes, do it! But don't let them destroy the arena, can you give them that prerogative?"

"Of course, they are my creations," Sai explained. He formed the appropriate hand signals and released a dozen tiny dragons to race towards the arena.

Sasuke and Gaara both stepped away from each other, bracing for the attack from the ink creatures. The Kage and the legendary Sasuke Uchiha made short work of the creatures. Gaara used his sand to restrain the ink dragons while he dismembered them with his taijutsu movements. Sasuke on the other hand, did not release a fireball technique, trying to be careful to avoid majorly destructive techniques. He managed to utilize moisture from the air, taking advantage of the recent, rare rains and created a water dragon akin to what Kakashi showed them on one of their first missions.

The water dragon raced over the ink dragons, dissolving the connection between the ink and Sai's chakra infusion. Then the water abruptly changed into ice and clattered to the ground.

"Very smart, not only did he avoid doing damage to the arena, but he calculated the environment's resources even though they weren't the usual resources. The ice was a nice touch." Itachi leaned back with his arms folded over his chest and with a slight smile upon his lips. "It's hard for me to reconcile this Sasuke with the little cat chaser that used to follow me around as soon as he learned to walk."

Not for the first time, Sakura's heart ached for Sasuke and Itachi both. In another universe, where the massacre didn't happen, she wondered how her husband would have developed without having to go through with the trauma he suffered.

Itachi looked over at her. "I can see the direction of your thoughts. Do not be fooled. If I hadn't taken down my clan, as distasteful as it was, you most likely would have been killed or orphaned as a casualty of the planned coup. Shisui might have been able to prevent it, but Danzo interfered so that the only options were the Uchiha clan or the rest of Konoha." Itachi reached for Sakura's shoulder and she felt a slight tingle of electricity at the point of contact. "Focus on the present and the future. Dwelling on the past only leads to bitterness and sadness." He resumed his previous position.

Sakura touched her shoulder, it was cold. Itachi's words were wise. He'd only been given twenty-one short years of life— the same age she was now. She wondered how much he learned after his death. Could he learn? Obviously, he was reacting to the present. It was a bit fascinating — so the brain wasn't the only part of oneself that learned, the spirit was also capable. Naruto's brain seemed to have a hard time learning new things, but his spirit was always evolving.

No sooner than her thoughts drifted to Naruto than two of Naruto Uzumaki's Shadow Clones burst onto the scene.

Itachi started to laugh- a deep, slow rumble. "I love that blond airhead. He's got a good heart and is very enthusiastic." He looked over at Sakura. "We faced off a few times. He has determination, but not any foresight. I can see why both you and Sasuke would have been annoyed with him when you were fresh out of the academy." He looked back at Naruto. "And also, why you would appreciate him more a few years later when he learned a little bit of humility from Jiriaya — being constantly embarrassed by that pervert author. Nagato complained about that often."

Sakura stood, ready to shout out at her teammate, hoping to catch Naruto's attention before he destroyed the arena with his Rasengan. This was not the time for him to learn construction.

Both Sasuke and Gaara noticed Naruto at the same time and they in unison turned their attention to him. Gaara's sand and Sasuke's lightning worked together to form a glass barrier that destroyed one of the clones and which gave the other Naruto clone pause. He stared back at them in confusion.

Then the remaining clone was replaced via substitution by the actual Naruto Uzumaki. "What the hell is going on here?" Naruto demanded.

"Clever trick," Itachi murmured. "I'd expect nothing less from the son of the Yellow Flash, student of the Copy Ninja, and disciple of the Toad Sage."

"Sasuke Uchiha has just convinced me to sponsor his promotion to Jonin," Gaara answered, he took back his sand, dissolving the bonds with the electricity.

Sasuke dissolved his electricity into a harmless static that made Naruto's hair stand on in.

"Very nice," Gaara complimented, glancing Sasuke's way. "That will come in handy when you are training immature shinobi and keeping them from harm."

"I am not teacher material," Sasuke answered, his voice flat.

Gaara gestured towards the stands where Sakura and the others were watching. "I suggest you learn at least in regards to your own children."

"So you're not fighting?" Naruto asked, trying to clarify.

"It's an alternative way to become a shinobi Jonin," Gaara answered. "I'll write Kakashi right away."

"Why did nobody tell me about an alternative way?" Naruto demanded, his chakra levels quieting as he powered down. He'd gone into Sage mode the moment he arrived, replacing his Shadow Clone. "I had asked Iruka years ago to write me a letter to recommend me for Jonin— though he wouldn't — he said I had to be Chunin first."

"From what Sakura told me, you were offered an alternative way. But you had to do some reading first and you refused," Sasuke pointed out. "And no one pays attention to letters of recommendation for Jonin. If the Hokage doesn't already have you on their radar, they aren't going to care about a letter of recommendation."

Naruto frowned and his hands flew to his hips in irritation. "It wasn't fair! Why should I have to read a bunch of books? Why didn't you or Sakura or anyone else have to do that?"

"We did do that— in the Academy. We passed our academics with high marks. Kakashi can't make exceptions for you, you barely passed the academy." Sasuke turned towards Gaara and quietly murmured thanks then turned back towards Naruto. "Iruka felt sorry for you so he graduated you even though you failed every written test!"

Naruto growled. "Bastard! I'm just not a good test taker!" And started to race towards Sasuke, whom was happy to meet him halfway. Gaara's sand encircled both their wrists, drawing them away and giving them pause.

"I would like my arena to stay intact. If you'd be so kind as to settle this argument in a less destructive manner, I would appreciate it," Gaara said.

"You're lucky I'm preserving my chakra right now," Sasuke said. He found the urge to smile. It had been fun fighting Gaara and then with the prospect of fighting Sage Mode Naruto. His best friend was an idiot, but still he was his brother. He already had the cool older brother. Naruto was the annoying, yet lovable younger brother.

"You're lucky Hinata gave birth last week and that I didn't—-," Naruto trailed off. "Oh crap. She's going to be pissed." His posture deflated and he looked back at the stands towards Sakura and Sai, and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Idiot," Sai scoffed.

"He just let his feelings get ahead of him," Sakura said, defensively. She often called Naruto an idiot, but he couldn't seem to help himself. She never had siblings, but Naruto felt like her brother. It was okay if she called him an idiot, but it annoyed her when others did. His hot-blooded Uzumaki nature seemed to blame if the behavior of his otherworld mom was any indication. It wasn't that he didn't know better, he just often let his feelings lead his actions without thinking. Luckily, he had a huge amount of chakra so he was generally able to get himself out of binds and save everyone around him.

"If it wasn't for their insane levels of chakra, the Uzumaki clan would have died out a long time ago," Itachi reasoned. "Their passion often leads them to making careless mistakes. That's what led to Yahiko Uzumaki dying prematurely. And that girl that used to follow Sasuke around from his days with Orochimaru. The entire clan was hot-headed. The Fourth Hokage, however, was a genius. He had the top academic marks of all time at the academy." Itachi glanced over at Sakura. "Higher than both our scores and Kakashi's."

"It's fine, Naruto. I'm leaving in a few hours. I'll bring you back with me," Sasuke said. "You can leave behind a couple of Shadow Clones just in case. Hinata will just be glad you're back home."

"You should probably bring your wife a gift," Gaara advised. "I may not know much about marriage, but I do understand diplomatic relationships."

The three of them began walking off the arena floor and started for the stands.

"What kind of gift? I don't think this is a bring home flowers sort of thing." Naruto laughed nervously. "It takes a lot for Hinata to get mad, but it's usually centered around not being home enough to spend time with Boruto and now the little one."

"You should make her a set of earrings," Sasuke suggested.

"Earrings?" Gaara asked. "Have you learned to make jewelry, Sasuke?"

"Sakura and I infused chakra into our wedding bands, but I image the great Kazikage might be willing to show us how to manipulate Earth chakra into some gemstones." Sasuke scratched the back of his head and looked up towards his wife. "I have a feeling I'm going to need to do a lot of apologizing over the years."

"Ah, you should come to my workshop. We can create some jewelry for your wives before the lunch I have planned," Gaara said. "I am, in fact, quite skilled at stone work. The metallurgy is still left wanting, but with Sasuke Uchiha here I'm sure we can work out the kinks."

"I hadn't intended to come, but one of my clones was supposed to dissolve the other, the memories I absorbed were going to let me know better about what happened. They left before word from Sand arrived. I just knew you were running behind," Naruto explained. "Kurama had sensed the smell of death and it smelled like Sakura — but as a clone Kurama wasn't there to offer his insight. I was invited inside at the gates and saw the fight and was just like emotionally charged. When the one clone dissolved, the memories rushed in, I panicked and exchanged places with the remaining clone."

Naruto stood at the base of the stairs and Sakura had already climbed down and was waiting for them. She heard his explanation and hugged him close. "Hinata will understand — you're both shinobi. Thank you for worrying, Naruto."

"Of course, Sakura-chan. You're my best friend," Naruto admitted. "Even if you're violent, you still take care of me!"

"I want to hear all about your daughter!" Sakura said, pulling back but holding onto Naruto's shoulders.

"Ah, she has dark hair and blue eyes. She sleeps and eats and poops. But she's cute and Hinata has been holding her all day and all night," Naruto said proudly.

Itachi stood between Sakura and Sasuke then. "You know, my mother was friends with Naruto's parents. She was on the same Genin team as Minato. She had wanted to adopt Naruto after his parents died, but the Third wouldn't allow it. He said the council wouldn't allow an Uchiha family to raise the Nine-tails." Itachi's gaze was locked on Sasuke and Naruto walking side by side, his lips were pursed together. "Perhaps if he hadn't been poisoned by the Second Hokage's prejudice against Uchiha the massacre could have been avoided."

"And they really would have been brothers," Sakura murmured. Sasuke looked over at her, seeming to realize who she was talking to under her breath.

"Mother had hoped they'd become friends at the Academy and that she could be a positive influence." Itachi leaned back and closed his eyes, arms folded over his chest. "However, they couldn't stand each other. It broke her heart, but father advised her to not interfere. He'd already pissed off the clan when he allowed Kakashi to keep the Sharingan and when what he saw as a generous decision wasn't given any credence by the Hokage, he grew bitter." He opened his eyes and stared at Sakura — his onyx eyes the literal same as Sasuke's. "If their decisions had been fueled by kindness instead of fear, things would have gone better. I'm glad Kakashi is the Hokage now. He embodies the ideal shinobi—people are more important than ideas."

Sasuke stepped closer to Sakura, dispelling Itachi's translucent form and took her hand, he squeezed it once and then let go, a brief moment of public affection catching Sakura off guard. "Naruto and I are going to visit Gaara's workshop— do a little project."

"Boring," Kankuro complained. "Temari, you wanted to show Sai the mural project?"

"Yes!" Temari said. "Sakura, do you want to come with us?"

"I'll be here for a few weeks," Sakura reminded her. "I'll look at it later, I think I'll go take a little nap if that's okay? I'll see you all at the lunch."

"I'll see you back at the room," Sasuke promised.

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Gaara's private workshop was not far from his personal quarters. He invited Sasuke and Naruto to join him in the large space. Gaara was in a particularly good mood after his and Sasuke's match — especially with Naruto having shown up. "It has been a long time since I have had so much fun," Gaara confessed, his voice deep and monotone. "Perhaps it should become a tradition that we face off, perhaps a different environment where we can wreck destruction as necessary and unleash more of our potential?"

"That sounds great!" Naruto agreed. "And we can have Sakura-chan watch and heal us afterwards." He raised his prosthetic right hand. "But we should not go too overboard."

"I have always wanted to know. What happened that you are both missing your lower arm?" Gaara asked. "I know it happened at the end of the last battle."

"The power was too much for a human to wield," Sasuke improvised, when Naruto stared back at him quietly. His friend's loyalty to protect him warmed his heart. "We were drawn to attack each other and destroy the source."

"Sakura-chan is the only reason we didn't both die," Naruto added.

"Ah. Well, the three of you and Lord Hokage Kakashi are the reason any of us didn't die," Gaara pointed out. He shivered as he opened the door to his workshop. "Even when that man Danzo claimed to be Hokage, me and the other Kage refused to acknowledge him on the battle. Hatake was the only one we were willing to recognize after Tsunade."

"Appreciate that," Sasuke murmured. "That man was a roach. He should have died decades ago. Konoha would have been a better place without him." The workshop was well lit with natural light radiating from a skylight in the ceiling. The corners glittered with geodes and other man-made gems including diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, amethyst. There were no rubies, but that was the gem Sasuke intended to make. Sakura wore red so often, it would be a good option. She wore the bangles he bought her all the time and the ring whenever she wasn't at work. He liked the idea of her wearing the jewelry from him.

"So, I can teach how to make the gems weaving earth magic together," Gaara explained. "Fire will also help when adding the metal. I was planning to create a tiara for my betrothed, once I find her." He pointed out a set of tiaras, one in a gold setting and another in a silver setting encrusted with gemstones. The metal frame was less than impressive.

"You're engaged?" Naruto asked, eyes raised high and blue eyes sparkling in enthusiasm. "Congratulations!" He reached out to pat Gaara on the back.

The Kazekage stared down at Naruto's hand impassively. "Not yet, but I will be. Kazekage has been a familial position in this country and I should like to have my own child. I do not think Temari's son with Shikamaru will be a suitable option. It must be someone raised in this land under its customs. I've managed to keep my council off my back for now, by naming my brother as my heir."

"I will make a pair of earrings," Sasuke decided. He looked over at Naruto. "I think you should make earrings and a bracelet for Hinata. You'll only be gone a few hours, so she shouldn't be too angry at you, but she did just give birth." Sasuke help up his hand and flexed it. "I remember Sakura broke my hand a few times during Sarada's birth."

Naruto gulped. "And she wants me to be a stand-in?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "It's not like she won't heal you instantaneously."

Naruto sighed. "I do feel like I've spent half my life getting beaten up by Sakura." When Gaara cast him a concerned look, he held his hands up defensively, palms out. "It's not that bad, but she has a temper and it's usually directed at me. Though, she seems pretty calm to everyone else."

Sasuke cringed. Luckily, his wife's temper was only ever directed at Naruto. He never could quite understand why.

"You should ask Kurama if he's doing something to antagonize her," Gaara suggested.

Naruto blinked at him. "What do you mean?"

Gaara shrugged as he picked up a few sets of earrings. "Decide which design you like and then which stones. And I mean, the tailed beasts can cause those around them to go berserk. If Sakura is only hostile towards you — it's likely there is something about you causing the behavior."

"She is very sensitive to chakra and at detecting poisons," Sasuke reasoned. "That's a fascinating idea." He didn't want to ask Sakura about that directly, but it would be interesting to get Itachi's thoughts on the idea — if he could remember to ask in his sleep next time.

"My chefs are preparing a very extensive lunch for us," Gaara said. "I hope you will stay."

Naruto started to respond, but Sasuke interrupted. "We must issue our regrets. We were only to serve as escorts. I have a lot to do back home."

"What is the difference of a few hours? It will take several days to make the journey," Gaara pointed out.

"I'm going to try a different technique," Sasuke admitted. He looked between the Kazekage and future Hokage. "I plan to teleport Naruto and I back to Konoha while using my Susanoo."

Naruto stared at him and then blinked three times. "What? You figured out how to do that?"

"I can teleport myself no problem. But I think if I incorporate the Susanoo I can have others travel safely with me. If we'd done that, Sakura wouldn't have had the close call," Sasuke explained.

"Your limits stagnant unless you test your boundaries," Gaara said. "I wish you both well." He smiled at Sasuke, the sight a little unnerving. "I will take good care of your wife, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. He assumed the Kazekage was teasing, but it was annoying. "I plan to make ruby earrings for Sakura. You should try amethyst, Naruto. That would be a good color for Hinata."

Naruto rubbed his hands together and then powered up, a yellow glow surrounding his body and within moments, both Sasuke and Gaara had maxed out chakra levels. Naruto grinned at them sheepishly. "Since we're taking the remedial class, I thought it couldn't hurt to be at our best."

"I didn't even think about the fact that you could share that insane chakra of yours," Sasuke muttered. He picked up one of the misshapen tiaras and concentrated on the metal and once he had an image in his mind, reshaped them into elegant crowns. "You know, we can stay for lunch. What is an extra hour?"

Gaara smiled, picking up the newly formed tiara. He held it up and inspected it closely. "It looks like we have plenty to learn form each other."

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A/N: I gotta say, I'm grateful for the light novels. They've helped repair Sakura's character and given substance to her relationship to Sasuke. I thought that Sarada would have a chance to shine in the Boruto series — but no, there's another main male character. I did really enjoy the animation adaptaion of Sasuke and Sakura at the observatory mission. And I don't understand why on Road to Ninja movie (which I reference in this chapter) Sakura doesn't invite Naruto to her house when she is reunited with her parents after she now KNOWS how lonely he must be. Instead they joke about having been on a date. Was it because she was a selfish teenager? Is she better now? Ah well, I guess that's why there are over 100,000 Naruto fan fictions.

7/11/23