The lights were dim and the sun was setting.

The sun began to lazily melt away into the horizon.

The surrounding trees were rustling lightly in the cool breeze that swept the fire country.

The tops of buildings seemed to reflect the tired mood the city held, night time was coming soon.

A figure approached the big green gates; they had large letters painted in red on the front, big and imposing.

A blank face, gaze fixed ahead, the figure bore a white robe, the opening in the middle of the robe was slightly open, revealing a pale white flesh underneath, the robe was flapping quietly in the wind, accepting the wind’s presence.

The Jonin stood at the gate had his eyes half open gazing half-heartedly at the open magazine that sat on the table.

He pulled his stare away from the magazine and towards the figure approaching the gate.
The figure was almost to the direct left of the small shack placed meekly at the side of the gate; his footsteps hit a halt, and the last step crunching the gravel underfoot confirmed it.

“I’m here to hand myself in” He spoke calmly, yet with a tone of sternness. His voice was powerful, reflecting the man who used it.

“Uchiha Sasuke, I presume?” The Jonin was now stood up and his arms leaning on the table, holding him up.
“Yeah” He paused “That’s me” Sasuke turned his head and looked at the counter and finally pulled a weak smile, it’d been a while since he last did that.

Sasuke looked down the gates towards Konoha, and down the main road of it.
The sun had cast its orange glow on everything, and gave it a surreal look; He had never spent much time appreciating beauty, but now, looking on his old village of allegiance, he saw what he thought could be beauty.
At the end of the elevating stairways and long stretches of beige streets, he could see a new face was etched into the side of the overlooking mountain. Sasuke’s lips curved slightly into a smile again.

The Jonin lazily padded over to Sasuke and eventually got beside him.
His left arm rose and indicated down the village, “Shall we go then?” He was still looking at Sasuke.
Sasuke still wore the uniform of Orochimaru’s followers, a large purple rope tied behind him in a knot, with his sword stemming out of both sides of the rope.
Sasuke lowered his head and began slowly and gracefully walking into the large, daunting gates.

His eyes lowered.

The morning sun beamed through the windows of the small apartment renewing and giving life to everything in the small, cramped room.

Konoha was quiet with the sound of the morning birds fluttering past.

Naruto’s eyes slowly opened and revealed the cream white of his ceiling; He opened his mouth and let out an exaggerated yawn.
“I wonder what’s gonna happen today?” Naruto said to himself in an excited voice, as he sat up and swivelled himself so his legs were dangling over the side of the bed.

Naruto grabbed the handle and pulled his drawer out; there were rows of the same black and orange jacket piled on top of each other. Naruto hastily shot his hand inside the drawer, pulling out the jacket and slipping it on over his t-shirt, he pulled out some bottoms, and as he began to squeeze into them; “THUD, THUD, THUD” the loud banging came from the direction of the small door
“AGHH!” Naruto lost balance on the one foot he was pogoing on and face planted in the direction of the door. He scrambled up and into his clothes and opened the door swiftly.
“Oh, hey Sakura” Naruto mumbled as he tied the black hitai-ate around his head.
“Naruto, you have to come, quickly!” By the time Sakura had finished her sentence and Naruto had time to respond, Sakura had already plunged her hand into Naruto’s jacket and dragged him half-way down the street.

Naruto gained his footing and sprinted after Sakura. They were running down the small back alley behind all of the shops.
“Where are we going, Sakura-Chan?” Naruto spilled out hastily to Sakura.
“It’s… Him, Naruto”

The Hokage building towered above Naruto and Sakura as they stood 10 metres away from the door, looking upwards, It was representative of the two seeing Sasuke again, It had been so long, they had changed all so much, and perhaps Sasuke had too, more than likely with him spending so much time with Orochimaru, It was quite evident, even when they had seen him at Orochimaru’s lair, he had a different demeanour about him, he couldn’t have changed that much from the old Sasuke they knew, what had happened to Orochimaru? These were the thoughts racing through both the minds of Sakura and Naruto as they stood in silence.

The tower spiralled up, they had always walked up it to get missions from the Hokage and it was fine, but this time, knowing what would be on the other side of that door it made it all that much more nerve racking for the two Chuunin.
As they reached the top, they saw Shizune stood outside the door with her arms crossed nervously.

“Is he here?” asked Naruto.
“Yes, He’s talking to Tsunade-Sama” Shizune replied politely.
“What’re they talking about?” Sakura interrupted.
“I’m sorry Sakura, but I don’t know entirely myself” laughed Shizune.
Sakura returned a nervous laugh, while Naruto stared at the door, with a nervous expression, a slight hint of fear in his fixed blue eyes.

The door creaked, and the handle turned, It seemed to take an eternity to do so.

Finally, a figure emerged from the door, the foot stepping out first.

He stepped out of the door. Naruto studied him hard and long, he had changed a lot from when he previously lived in Konoha, but the same man was underneath.
Sure he had seen him a few months before at Orochimaru’s lair, but this time it was different, He had time to look long and hard at Sasuke, studying his broader figure, his confident and maybe even cocky posture. His face was still pale and clear, as it had always been, but this time he could spot some more experience in those eyes. “Those eyes” Naruto thought. He could recall them in the many situations he had been with Sasuke, all they had been through, from the beginning, when they were WAY too close, when some goofball had kicked Sasuke into Naruto, when they had fought against Zabuza on the Naruto Bridge, in the forest of death, in the preliminary Chuunin exams, Naruto’s memories composing a list of his time with Sasuke, concluding to when he had viciously fought at the valley of the end.

Now, Sasuke was stood in front of him.

All this time, he had been so far away, and so many leads Naruto had chased aimlessly, just to bring Sasuke back, now he stood in front of him. It was slightly ironic that Naruto had done all these things and he had just come back to Konoha. Naruto liked to think he could smile at the irony, but right now, Sasuke was right there, he couldn’t do anything except stare at him, blankly.

Sasuke stood there, staring straight back at Naruto, and then glancing at Sakura, then back between the two.

Sasuke sighed, then dropped his head into his hand.
His head remained in his hand as his eyes were drawn back towards the two.
Sasuke drew in a breath, with it, he stood up.
Turned around,
And walked off down towards the exit of the Hokage building.

“HEY!” Naruto screamed down the corridor as Sasuke strolled down the gentle slop of the corridor. “Aren’t you going to say something then?”
Sasuke stopped. He placed his right hand on his hip, then swivelled the top half of his body around to face Naruto and Sakura.

“Yo” Sasuke said, bending his lips into a smile before, turning once more and continuing on his path.

Naruto just stared down the twisting corridor as Sasuke finally left the trail of sight.

----*----

Her childhood crush was stood right in front of her.

Uchiha Sasuke, she had always thought of him as the ultimate guy for her, yet then she realised she knew nothing of him, he never spoke to her or even acknowledged her up until they were put in team 7 together. “Team 7” Sakura thought to herself. They could’ve done that until the end of time and Sakura was happy, just gone on missions together, carried out the Hokage’s orders, as long as she was hanging around with Sasuke. That’s what she’d thought then, but since he was gone, she’d fully appreciated Naruto and Kakashi. She’d always been fond of Kakashi, but never really even thought of Naruto even as a friend then, but when Sasuke left, that changed a lot, she only ever had time to think of Sasuke. Broader minded were the words that came to her mind.
Was it a good thing for him to be around? Or did he just hinder her? She wasn’t as naïve as back then though, so it might not be the same.

These things were racing around Haruno Sakura’s mind, and she just stood there, her mouth open wide, as she had done in her naïve young age when the Uchiha had entered the room. Time seemed to stand still now though, as he had proceeded to turn and walk away from Sakura and Naruto, as Naruto called after him, Sasuke simply replied; “Yo”.

Throughout the whole episode, Sakura held the same pose.
Paralysed.

----*----

SLURP!
Naruto had guzzled the bowl of noodles in the same quick, excited manner as he had always done. As if the whole occasion had never happened, not to say it didn’t faze him, but he never let anything get in between him and his meal, especially Ichiraku ramen.
Sakura, alternately only poked at her bowl with her chopsticks, pulling out the vegetables she liked, she couldn’t be bothered with the rest, she felt like she would vomit if she had eaten anymore, the emotion would force it straight back out, the lump in the back of her throat would have made sure of that.
“Why is he like that, Naruto?” Sakura softly said to Naruto, her head still pointing towards the two chopsticks meekly rotating in the bowl of ramen.
“I dunno Sakura-Chan” Naruto said as he lightly padded his face with a tissue, finally letting a belch out to confirm he was finished eating.
“I don’t know Naruto” Sakura began “How did I treat you when Sasuke was around, in team 7?” Sakura had placed her chopsticks on top of the bowl now she had finished eating aswell.
“Well, Sakura, I didn’t think you paid much attention to me, and when it was, it was negative” Naruto said, his voice saddening towards the end.
“I AM sorry, Naruto” Sakura started, with an apologetic tone. “I never meant to be so neglecting, I was always so single minded with gaining Sasuke’s attention” continued Sakura gaining a slightly annoyed, at herself. “I think Sasuke brings out the worst in me Naruto” Sakura said, turning to Naruto.
“It’s fine Sakura” Naruto started. “I’m sure you’ll be different this time”
Before Naruto could finish, he was cut off by Sakura, gently sobbing, she had placed her head in her hands, and before long, the tears were spilling out, from in between her fingers.
“Come on Sakura-Chan” Naruto placed his hand around her back and began gently stroking her; He led her out of the noodle bar. “I’m going to take you home, it’s fine”

Naruto and Sakura were hurriedly pacing down the street now, turning multiple corners, when Naruto barged into a familiar figure.
“I’m sorry, I’ve got to-” Naruto was cut off as his eyes raised and he saw Sasuke’s face.
“S-S-Sasuke” Naruto managed to splutter out.
“Uhh, hey” Sasuke returned, evidently trying to appear friendly. He had changed now, and was wearing a simple black t-shirt.
Sakura was now pouring tears and desperately pulling away from Naruto. He gave into Sakura’s tugging and turned away chasing Sakura down the street, being pulled by his arm.

The restaurant was steamy and hot, it was a beautiful environment to Akimichi Chouji, but to Nara Shikamaru, it was a sweaty pig sty. “Whatever keeps him happy” thought Shikamaru as he stared at the largest piece of meat he had ever seen, shortly after a pair of chopsticks interrupted and retreated back to the mouth of the young Akimichi who scoffed the snack whole. Shikamaru looked at Chouji with disbelief. “Chouji!”
“What?!” Chouji returned with his mouth half full, resulting in a noise that could only be described as a massive slur.
“You’ll die of indigestion if you eat pieces that size!” Shikamaru’s reply battled the noisy banter of the BBQ grill atmosphere.
Chouji swallowed hard, and after a pause, he spoke. “Shikamaru, when’s Ino and Asuma-Sensei getting here?”
Shikamaru looked out the window when he gave his reply. “Yeah, soon Chouji, they’ll be here, anyway, stop picking at the food, or there’ll be none left for them”
Chouji let out a large sigh as he fell back, his back hitting the seat, before reaching down into his pocket and pulling out a packet of BBQ potato chips, stuffing his hand in the packet and retrieving a handful of chips and stuffing them in his mouth, Chouji reached over the grill with the packet outstretched and gestured to Shikamaru to have one by spluttering several chip pieces over the table. Shikamaru waved the offer away before rising out of his seat and welcoming Ino and Asuma to the table, whom had converged at the door to make their way into the restaurant together, but as Shikamaru looked towards the two walking through the door, he saw another familiar figure walking past the building.

Shikamaru’s face went pale and an almost petrified expression shot each of his features.
“Sasuke?” Shikamaru spluttered.



----*----



The sun broke through the trees and landed softly on the water.

3 figures bounced off of the trees and forward, as if mimicking one another.

Finally, the process ground to a halt, and the first figure stopped and jumped down from the tree-tops.

Aburame Shino was stood in the usual cold, analysing pose. He delicately placed his hands in his pockets.

“We’re done” He spoke, still retaining the same position he landed in.

Inuzuka Kiba jumped down and slumped his back against a tree, placing his hands behind his head, in a lazy manner.

Hyuuga Hinata glided down and slowly strolled towards the waters edge of the small clearing outside of Konoha.

It was a small grassy patch surrounded by big green trees and had a small clear river, which shined clearly through the dark and gloomy woods.

Hinata bent her knees gently and cupped her hands just above the surface of the water; she dipped them in and pulled them out slowly. She sipped calmly on the water before gasping out and freely swinging her pale hands beside her and gazing out towards the opening in the trees above which gave way to a beautiful ray of light that graced the small meadow.
“Guys!” Kiba declared as he continued his lazy pose, propped against the tree, his eyes gently closed.
“What?” Shino responded after a small pause.
“I feel bad for leading Akamaru at home” Kiba replied with a hint of sorrow in his voice.
“It’s fine Kiba, He’s probably resting up, he works as hard as you, he needs his rest just as much” Hinata stated, pulling her sandals off and carefully dipping her feet in the small river.
“Let’s get back now then” Shino said walking towards the middle of the clearing.
“Yeah!” Kiba replied enthusiastically, his face lighting up and his arms pushing him to his feet.
“Okay” Hinata said, quickly splashing out of the water towards where she had laid her sandals down.

The three made their way back to the village through the trees and eventually got to the gates of Konoha.
“The village looks really radiant today” Hinata lightly said to the two young men striding in front of her.
“Yeah! I'll say” Announced Kiba.
The group continued to chat as they walked through the village until they came to the crossroads where they left each other.
“So, I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” Kiba stated, in his usual loud manner.
“Yeah, I guess so” Hinata said, turning to face Kiba.
“Bye Hinata, Kiba” Shino said, as he turned to each one of them and departed.

Kiba plodded down his path, satisfied and exhausted with the day’s training with his team, he was enjoying reminiscing on the day as he walked down the crowded main road when he saw a recognisable face in the crowd.
“What?” Kiba thought, as he began to bound forward towards the crowd of people hindering his view of the man. Kiba caught more glances of the man as he pushed past strangers to get to him.

“S-Sasuke?”

But before he could get any sort of clear view, there was no Sasuke any longer. Just the other faces of the assorted villagers.

“What? T-The hell?” Kiba nervously stuttered.
He looked left. He looked right. Forwards. Behind him?
Nothing.

“Sasuke!?”

“My name is Uchiha Sasuke”

Sasuke slowly mumbled those words as he stared upwards, mesmerised by the peach tree, it’s blossoms slowly falling off and floating downwards, flipping and rotating as they reached their inevitable fate of hitting the soft, grassy floor.
It was a peaceful scene for Sasuke to reflect on the events of the previous day, the words he had shared with Tsunade. He loved the spot he was sat in, it was a big peach tree surrounded by a small moat and a small, red bridge, it was about 1 o’clock in the afternoon and Sasuke had rose, eaten and bathed. They were chores he enjoyed, as Sasuke enjoyed doing them solitary, for this day, from the start, he was deep in reflection. What had he been doing for the past 4 years? Pursuing Itachi just to kill him? Thinking past the anger and vengeance he had felt, he had thought logically about it, It was probably more constructive to get back to Konoha and reform his clan.
“No” He thought “Not in that way” He had to go and earn the old Uchiha estate back, It would only be a house for now, he would need to eventually get a wife and start over.
He hated being in Orochimaru’s lair, it was lone, and there was never any company, something he thought he would never deem absolutely necessary, he had felt something missing, but only realised after several months that it was company that he had wanted, he wouldn’t often think of anyone in particular he would like to be with, Naruto and Sakura would be the obvious answer, but he didn’t care, anyone from Konoha, he had a sense of belonging there and decided eventually after Naruto was proved right that Orochimaru was using him for his body.
Sasuke didn’t hate Orochimaru for that, at the end of the day, he was a sick twisted, old man. He had also trained Sasuke very well, but realised that it would have been for nothing but destruction, but why not swap that for construction, something positive, as Naruto would’ve put it.

----*----

“Haha!” Tsunade let out a hearty belly laugh at the sight of Sasuke.
“Hello Tsunade” Sasuke confidently said.
It was a peculiar situation for the both of them.
Tsunade immediately slammed her hand down on the table and pulled a very stern and maybe even angry face on “And what makes you think Konoha will just take you back Uchiha Sasuke?” Tsunade slammed, her tone reflecting her expression.
“I have killed one of the S-Class criminals in the bingo book of this village” Sasuke calmly replied, he was sat in a small chair, his hands placed in his lap.
Tsunade’s posture remained, while her expression completely exchanged for one of surprise of the highest level. “O-O-Orochi-Maru?” Tsunade managed to utter.
“Yes.” Sasuke simply returned.
“Hmph, where’s your proof?” Tsunade said, attempting to shrug off the words just shared.
Sasuke reached into his pocket and pulled out a grey-skin coloured finger, he tossed it the desk casually.
“Alright Uchiha Sasuke” Tsunade started, “Even if we wanted to, we can’t just let S-Class criminals back into our village”
“What would grant me back in?” Sasuke replied plainly.
“SHIZUNE!” Tsunade barked quickly in response to this question.
Shizune hurried in with a scared expression. “Y-Yes, Hokage-Sama?”
“Get the Yuudou scroll, immediately!” Tsunade followed up with another loud demand.
“Yuudou?” Sasuke inquired
“It is a binding scroll, It ties you to this village for the rest of you life, as long as we keep this scroll, your life is forfeit to Konoha” Tsunade explained “We plant a seal of the highest level on you, which will take about 10 hours. It connects to all your major organs, so if you try to remove it, you will take the major organs with it, in addition, we can pull the plug at any time by using the scroll which links to your scroll, with a simple ninjutsu, known only by the Konoha elders and myself, am I clear?” Tsunade finished, using the serious and sometimes scary voice to the unintimidated Sasuke.

Shizune stumbled back into the room with a box full of scrolls, she crashed landed the small wooden box on Tsunade’s desk, Shizune began to rummage through the box in search of the right scroll, they were all trimmed with gold, indicating they were jutsu scrolls of the highest level.
Tsunade smirked.
“Shizune, brush, ink, scroll, now!”
Shizune, it appeared was prepared for this part as she pulled a small table out of the corner and propped it near the Hokage’s desk.

“Do you, Uchiha Sasuke, consent to the binding of the Yuudou scroll to yourself?”
“Yes”
Shizune began hastily scrawling what had been said and eventually finished and looked towards Tsunade again
“Do you, Uchiha Sasuke, swear the utmost loyalty to the village of Konohagakure and the Fire Country?”
“Yes”
“Uchiha Sasuke, are you aware of the full effects of the Yuudou scroll?”
“I am”
“Do you, Uchiha Sasuke, swear to never commit crimes against the village of Konohagakure or the Fire country again?”
“I do”

The conversation continued in the formal manner which it had began in, with Sasuke answering the Hokage’s questions and then Shizune brushing the words which were being shot between the two people.

----*----

Sasuke’s head was still tilted backwards.
He pulled up the black t-shirt he had been wearing and looked at the seal on his stomach, it was big, and there were scars running up his stomach, it had been a gruelling “operation” if one were to put it that way.
“Still” Sasuke thought, “I am back, I’m free to be a Konoha shinobi once more, and re-form my clan. But how, exactly am I supposed to explain all this to Naruto and everyone else?”
Sasuke stood up, dusted himself off, as he decided he was hungry, and head off to one thing he did miss, as he hated to admit, about Konoha, Ichiraku Ramen.

Sasuke arrived at the ramen bar and sat next to a large merchant type man, physically, he couldn’t see the other side of the guy.
Sasuke reached over the bar and handed over a few notes to the man behind the bar, he hadn’t seen his face in so long; thankfully, there was no recognition in the man’s eyes.
A while later, a steaming bowl of ramen appeared in front of Sasuke, he reached out and pulled a pair of chopsticks from the bar, and snapped them into two, he held them in one hand.
“Itadakimasu” Sasuke quietly mumbled to himself, under his breath, a slight infectious smile spreading across his lips.

The big merchant man had pulled himself to his feet eventually and thanked the owner in the grizzly voice that had resounded the bar so often during Sasuke’s meal.

The other side of the man, sat a boy about Sasuke’s age, he had only caught him in the corner of his eye.
Sasuke turned his head towards the boy.
So had the boy.

Orange, and black jacket.

Big, blue eyes.

Blonde spiky hair.

Yeah. That was him.
Sasuke waited for him to say the first words.
He didn’t know how he would feel about him returning excluding the other day, Sasuke was just off to have the Yuudou operation and not much time, it wasn’t ideal to explain himself, but now…

“S-Sasuke?” Naruto said in the similar, stupid way, he had always said his name.
“Idiot” Sasuke returned, his lips once more curving into a smile.
“Wow, you have a lot to answer for, Sasuke” Naruto said, with seriousness, looking deep into Sasuke’s eyes.
“I’ve talked to Tsunade about it, as you probably know” Sasuke began, gazing ahead at the poster behind the noodle bar, “We’ve come to an agreement.” Sasuke paused, “I have a seal, that can kill me if the scroll is activated, and I’ve sworn to atone for my crimes”
“And that’s it? Just go back to being Team 7 again?!” lashed Naruto.
“That’s what I was hoping Naruto, I know I’m being extremely naïve, but I think I made a mistake joining Orochimaru, although it did help clear my head of revenge on Itachi”
“You do realise the day you left the village, Neji, Chouji and Kiba all could’ve died trying get you back? Heck, any of us could’ve died!” Naruto’s voice faltering as he finished his statement, his eyes welling up with tears.
“I know Naruto, It pains me to say this, but sorry, I want you to try and forgive me Naruto” Sasuke gave his reply.

Sasuke stood up from his seat and walked off, with his hands in his pockets.


“Sasuke!”


“Later”