Sasuke's eyes snapped opened as he took deep breaths in and out.
He slowly sat up as he looked around.
He felt the blazing and familiar heat of the Amaterasu.
'So it worked. It actually worked.' Sasuke thought with satisfaction as a genuine smile graced his face.
His eyes then widened again as he turned to his right and seen the almost lifeless body of his brother, Itachi Uchiha.
One more second and he would be dead all together.
He couldn't let that happen.
With swiftness and speed that surpassed the fastest, Sasuke placed his hand on Itachi's chest.
Once he removed it, a Sun seal could be seen.
He let out a heavy sigh. That was too close.
He had to hurry up because if he remembered correctly, Obito and Zetsu was about to come and pick them up.
His hands made signs with swiftness as he made the seal.
Itachi's body disappeared temporarily.
Now what he can do is make fake copies of them both. These Shadow Clones were unlike the regular ones and should last for a long time and Obito and Zetsu wouldn't know they were Shadow Clones at all.
He made a sign and a copy of Itachi's dead body appeared again and his fake sleeping body appeared beside it.
Sasuke looked in a certain direction and could sense the eight man squad consisting of Naruto and the rest.
Now he could do this one or two ways. He could go to the Hidden Leaf Village himself or get sent there by the squad. It would make the most sense to do the latter.
He nodded to himself and teleported.
The second after Sasuke teleported Obito and Zetsu appeared.
"Excellent, he's still here. Get Itachi's dead body Zetsu." The hidden Obito said.
-Meanwhile-
"Damnit! We're almost there!!" Naruto yelled. He couldn't stop. Not when he was so close to bringing Sasuke back home..so close to fulfilling his promise to Sakura.
"He's right up ahead Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled as she had her Byakugan activated.
"No..I'm right here."
Everyone stopped in their tracks as they heard his voice.
Sasuke had a wide smirk on his face as he looked at their flabbergasted expressions.
"S-Sasuke??" Naruto's eyes were wide with shock as he started to walk towards Sasuke.
Yamato held his hand out. "Wait Naruto we don't know if this is a trick or not. He's still dangerous." He said cautiously.
"Don't worry I'm not here to hurt anyone. I want to come back to the Leaf." Sasuke said as he almost laughed at their even more flabbergasted expressions.
"S-Sasuke-kun are y-you serious??" A shocked Sakura asked, not believing him.
Sasuke nodded. "I have much to discuss with the Hokage." He said. "Let's make haste."
Naruto's eyes brightened up by the millions. He smiled an all tooth smile. "SASUKE!!" He, Sakura, and even Kakashi ran to Sasuke.
Tears fell out of Sakura's eyes. "You don't know how happy I am to hear those words..Sasuke-kun."
Kakashi smiled his classic one eyed smile. He couldn't believe it himself, but he could tell Sasuke was being honest.
Hinata smiled as she was happy for the three.
Kiba smirked. "Damn Sasuke's really coming back. Who would've thought." He said.
'So this is the bond they have.' Sai thought as he watched them.
Shino smirked. Even when they were younger he had nothing against Sasuke. He actually liked him. He was glad the Uchiha was finally coming back.
"Okay okay that's enough." Sasuke actually gave them a small genuine smile. "Let's go."
-Cutscene-
"So Sasuke what was it like? Training with Orochimaru and all that??" A smiling Naruto asked.
It was now nighttime and everyone decided to take a break. They should be back in the Hidden Leaf Village tomorrow. Kakashi and Yamato were talking and the rest were around a campfire.
"It was..an experience. It taught me a lot about myself and the world around me. I was mostly focused..on killing Itachi." Sasuke said as he looked into the fire. Not now. He couldn't let everyone know Itachi was still alive yet. Until he talked with the Hokage and let her know the truth. "How have you all been?" He asked.
"Great Sasuke-kun. I've actually been training hard and am way stronger now." Sakura smiled at him.
"You..look great Sakura. I apologize to you all for troubling you so much." Sasuke had a particularly saddened smile on his face. It seemed like it was based on something more deeper than what was on the surface.
Everyone had surprised expressions, some more than others.
Sakura herself was speechless with a hot blush.
Sasuke then looked at Hinata. His eyes softened "You look great as well..Hinata." He said.
A massive blush was on her face. She was surprised he even remembered her and she especially didn't expect that coming out of Sasuke's mouth nonetheless. She bashfully nodded in gratitude.
"Whoa.." Naruto tilted his head. "Are you..okay Sasuke??" He asked bewildered.
"Yeah did Orochimaru teach you how to be a Casanova too? Haha." Kiba chuckled.
"I for one think its a nice change from the regular Mr. Broody." Kakashi smiled as he patted Sasuke's shoulder.
Sasuke scoffed but smirked. He then glanced at Sai. "What's your name?" He asked.
"My name is Sai. Naruto and Sakura have talked a lot about you-" Sai looked at a particular feature of Sasuke. "Duckbutt." He finished and smiled.
Sasuke's eyes twitched in annoyance.
Naruto and Kiba laughed hard. Kakashi chuckled. Yamato and Shino smiled. Sakura and Hinata giggled.
Sasuke internally smiled. He was glad that the jutsu worked and promised that this time everything would be different.
-Cutscene-
Sasuke paused and took a deep breath in as he looked at the familiar large gates of the Hidden Leaf Village. It felt so nostalgic to him.
"We're back!! But we're not empty handed this time!!" Naruto smiled and yelled out.
"How's it feel being back Sasuke-kun?" A smiling Sakura asked. She was still happy that he was back and would be for a long while. It seems like he changed also, but it was a very welcome change.
"It makes me feel..happy." Sasuke grinned. Internally he scowled angrily. He would have to do something about him though. He still didn't figure if he would kill him yet or not. "Do you guys think the village will accept me back?" He asked.
"They should without doubt Sasuke. It's not like you directly went against or attacked the Leaf in any way. You killed Orochimaru and an Akatsuki member, if anything the most you would get is a slap on the wrist." Kakashi responded.
"I'm sure I will be able to convince Grandma Tsunade if she doesn't think so Sasuke, so don't worry." Naruto said and gave him a thumbs up.
Sasuke nodded and they all walked in.
-Cutscene-
"What a surprise..Sasuke Uchiha." Tsunade was indeed surprised to see the man Naruto had chased after so much and for him to come willingly no less.
She sent the rest on their way, but asked for Naruto to wait outside.
Sasuke nodded. "Hokage." He greeted. "I'm here to return into the Leaf Village"
Tsunade's eyebrow raised. "And what makes you think you can return back so easily??"
"One because I didn't hurt or attack the Leaf Village in any way or form and two because I have valuable information." Sasuke responded, putting emphasis on valuable.
"Hm I see. That's true Sasuke. I agree and I know if I try to withhold you or don't allow you Naruto will definitely come and try to convince me..in that case welcome back to the Hidden Leaf Village. You can relax for now. I will send an ANBU member whenever your new apartment is ready and I will call you back in order to discuss the 'valuable information' you say that you have." Tsunade replied.
Sasuke nodded.
"..tell Naruto to come in now." Tsunade said.
Sasuke noticed the change in her tone to something more somber and saddened.
Right. Around this time, Jiraiya was killed too by Pain. Damn he would have a lot to think about and plan.
On the outside Sasuke seen Naruto smiling and looking at him expectantly.
He nodded. "I'm officially back Naruto." He said with a smile.
"Let's GO!! We gotta celebrate!!" Naruto yelled and brightly smiled.
"Of course. Tsunade wants to talk with you though." Sasuke said.
"Well I'll see you later Sasuke and congrats again on being back!" Naruto said and waved as he entered.
'I will most definitely have to talk with him after he's done.' Sasuke thought empathetically.
He figured he would visit and walk the streets of Konoha since it's been a long time.
-Cutscene-
Sasuke walked down the streets of Konoha and felt evocative as he looked around.
He paused as he could see the Yamanaka Shop to his left. The face of Ino entered his mind.
"Ino.." He said as his eyes softened, memories from before coming to the forefront. He then entered the shop.
"Sasuke-k-kun?!" The shocked Ino screamed out.
"In the flesh Ino." He said with a grin.
"W-what are you doing h-here? When did y-you come back??"She stuttered out as she was still surprised.
"I just returned back to the village not too long ago. It's good to see you again Ino..you look good." Sasuke said.
Ino blushed heavy. "A-awe thank y-you Sasuke-kun..that was s-sweet and really?! That's amazing!" She yelled with excitement.
"Yeah..well I was just stopping by to visit you Ino, I'll see you later." Sasuke said. He then turned and was about to leave.
"Wait Sasuke-kun.." Ino said.
Sasuke heard her footsteps approaching him.
"Ye-" Sasuke was interrupted by Ino tightly hugging him.
"I'm..really glad you're back" She said.
Sasuke could hear the sincerity and honesty in her tone. It was strangely mixed with..somberness and something warm.
He would treat her much better than the old him did.
He softly rubbed her back. "I appreciate that." He said in gratitude.
Ino then warmly smiled at him. "I got to get back to work Sasuke-kun, but you can talk to me anytime." She said.
Sasuke grinned and nodded. He then waved as he left.
After he left the flower shop, he was met by the ANBU member.
"Your new apartment is ready Mr. Uchiha." The member said. Sasuke nodded and both left.
-Cutscene-
Sasuke was on his new couch, thinking about the next event that would happen.
Nagato was going to attack the Hidden Leaf Village with his Paths of Pain. Konan would be there to help him.
They of course wouldn't be a match for him. He planned to actually take care of the pains himself before they destroyed the Leaf.
As for Nagato he would take his Rinnegan and put one inside of his right eye, so he could have two Eternal Rinnegans. For the other..he was still thinking about it.
Hopefully his clone already let the rest of Team Taka know to meet him in the Leaf Village so they can join too.
Sasuke's thoughts paused as he heard knocks on his door.
He stood up and walked to open it.
"Narut-" He was interrupted by Naruto hugging him.
"...how??" Naruto asked the simple question.
There were many undertones to the question. He definitely just finished hearing about Jiraiya's death.
"How what Naruto?" Sasuke asked as he pat his back in support.
"..how did you keep going...when your clan was killed." The downcast and teary eyed Naruto asked. He felt Sasuke was one of the only few people that could relate to his situation and that he could talk to.
Sasuke's eyes glazed over in reminiscing.
"I can tell you this Naruto. You live on for them..you continue to fight for what's right and never give up and quit on yourself because they wouldn't want that for you. Use that pain to protect what matters and the ones you love." Sasuke finished.
Naruto's eyes widened with astonishment. Those are the exact words he needed to hear.
Sasuke watched as Naruto wiped his tears and determination and conviction came upon his face. "Thank you..Sasuke. I will keep your words in mind." Naruto then smiled and held out his fist.
Sasuke smirked. "Hymp..loser." He fist bumped him back.
Both then felt a gush of wind as an ANBU member appeared.
"The Hokage requests you Mr. Uchiha.." The ANBU member said.
Sasuke nodded. "Naruto you should come too." He said.
Naruto's expression turned serious. By the tone of Sasuke's voice this will be important. He nodded and followed them.