Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Twilight of Trust ❯ Reunion ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

 

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Chapter 3

 

Reunion

 

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“Sasuke…”

 

Naruto swallowed. His best friend was sitting with his back against the back wall of the cell, so was in shadow. His skin seemed even paler since their last meeting, and considering Orochimaru liked his hideouts to be underground, Naruto supposed Sasuke had rarely seen the light of day in the last three years, which explained the ghostly pallor that seemed to shine in the shadows of the cell. His wrists were shackled to the wall above him and there were wards imprinted on the shackles to prevent the prisoners they held from using their chakra to help them escape; his chin rested on his chest so his dark hair fell to create a veil over his face. He could vaguely make out the smell of dried blood.

 

“I'm going in,” Sakura said quietly.

 

“I was told not to allow-”

 

Naruto started when he noticed the chuunin guard had followed them down the hall.

 

“As a medic ninja, my job is to treat those who are injured, and that includes prisoners after interrogation,” the pink-haired kunoichi said through clenched teeth. “If you have a problem, speak to Tsunade-sama.”

 

Naruto smiled grimly to himself. The guard knew he could not argue with that. Not only was Sakura the Hokage's apprentice, but the Hokage herself was a medic ninja and was very strict in her stance on the treatment of prisoners. Unfortunately, Naruto realized painfully, Sasuke probably did need medical treatment, especially if he smelled of blood.

 

The guard frowned before nodding and unlocking the door. He opened the door and Naruto followed Sakura in. The guard closed the door behind them and locked it once more.

 

“Call when you're done,” he said before disappearing from view.

 

Naruto and Sakura exchanged a glance before walking up to their former teammate. Sakura took a deep breath and knelt down next to Sasuke on his left while Naruto stood behind her.

 

Sasuke had made no move since their arrival.

 

“Sasuke-kun?” Sakura asked tentatively, not sure what kind of reaction to expect. Instead, she received none. The kunoichi frowned and leaned over to look at his face. She sighed.

 

“He's unconscious,” she told Naruto as she righted herself.

 

What did they do to knock Sasuke out? He has an extremely high tolerance for pain. The blonde ground his teeth. I don't like this.

 

Sakura cupped her hands around Sasuke's face and they began to glow a faint green color. Naruto watched on silently as gashes on Sasuke's chest, arms, and face disappeared under Sakura's healing jutsu. He wondered how many more wounds their former teammate's clothing hid.

 

After what felt like an eternity to the tense Shinobi, Sasuke groaned softly and his eyes opened slowly. He blinked a few times before his eyes focused on Sakura. Her foam green eyes met his ebony and for a moment they just stared at each other. Finally, Sakura blinked and snapped herself out of her reverie. She slowly dropped her hands from his face and put them in her lap self-consciously.

 

“S-Sasuke-kun?” she whispered, watching his reaction carefully.

 

Sasuke closed his eyes a moment and took a breath before opening them once more as if to make sure he wasn't dreaming. This was the first time the three had been face-to-face since Sasuke's capture.

 

“Sakura,” he said finally, voice carefully devoid of emotion.

 

She swallowed. Naruto could tell she was struggling with herself. On the one hand, he had caused her so much pain leaving like he did and in the way he had acted after their brief meeting six months before - no one could just ignore that kind of heart break - but the teen in front of her was also her teammate and her first love. She couldn't seem to decide whether she wanted to slap him or hug him.

 

“Where am I?” Sasuke asked finally.

 

“Konoha,” Naruto replied, raising an eyebrow.

 

Sasuke looked up at him and gave him a level stare so reminiscent of the time they spent together on Team 7 that Naruto almost forgot when and where they were.

 

“Obviously, dobe.”

 

Naruto felt as if a knife had been thrust into his chest and twisted. The old times felt so close at this moment even though they were actually so long past for the broken team.

 

“The holding prison,” Sakura replied more specifically, “in the basement.”

 

Sasuke smiled wryly. It was an odd expression on the normally stoic boy's face. “So much trouble for little old me. Tsunade must really consider me a threat.”

 

“Her and the rest of the village,” Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

 

Sasuke arched an elegant eyebrow. He was showing much more expression than he had since his capture. Perhaps it was the familiar company; or perhaps he had changed more than any of them had realized. The black-haired teen shrugged and the shackles around his wrist clanked in a rustic reminder of their location.

 

A loud smack suddenly echoed through the cell and Naruto blinked when he realized Sakura had slapped Sasuke across the face. Sasuke's head has snapped to the side and a small trickle of blood slowly dripped from the corner of his mouth.

 

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto exclaimed in surprise. He knew she was upset but honestly hadn't expected for her to slap him with all her might - though considering she had changed a lot as well (they all had, now that the blonde really thought about it), he decided he shouldn't have been surprised.

 

Sasuke, however, seemed mildly surprised as his eyes widened for a split second before he schooled his features once more. He closed his eyes once more before slowly turning back to look at the kunoichi. His ebony eyes opened and met Naruto's crystal blue first. The blonde said nothing but hoped he was conveying that Sasuke had a hell of a lot of explaining to do. Sasuke inclined his head minutely as if to reply that he got the message. Whether he would follow through remained to be seen.

 

“Damn it, Sasuke-kun,” Sakura said tearfully. Her hands were squeezed into tight fists in her lap and her jaw was set as if trying to keep from crying outright. “Why? Why did you have to leave? Don't you know how much it hurt us? Or did you even care?”

 

Sasuke watched his former kunoichi teammate for several silent moments. Naruto wondered what on earth could be going through his old friend's mind. His eyes still held that dead quality they had taken on sometime in the previous three years and they betrayed nothing of what he was thinking.

 

“Sasuke-teme,” Naruto said lowly, “Tsunade-baachan is trying to keep you alive.” Sasuke looked up at Naruto in surprise - well, surprised for Sasuke was the ever-so-slight widening of the eyes, but Naruto had learned to watch his friend's expressions. “She wants your strength back in Konoha, where it belonged in the first place.”

 

The blonde Shinobi could feel emotions threatening to rise; he clenched his hands into fists in a vain attempt to keep himself from crying or screaming or hitting Sasuke or anything in between. He didn't really know what he wanted to do. “But the only way you won't be executed as a missing-nin is by getting the other Shinobi to trust you again.”

 

“I think it's a little late for that,” Sasuke said softly. His eyes almost looked… sad. But it was Sasuke - he had that brooding mentality all the time.

 

“No, it's not,” Sakura said. “Tsunade is not the only one who wants you alive, Sasuke-kun,” she whispered.

 

Sasuke's eyes widened in his manner of surprise again and Naruto was suddenly reminded of their fight three years prior.

 

Naruto and Sasuke stood atop upturned logs floating in the lake. The pain the thought of losing Sasuke brought Naruto hurt more than any of the blows his friend had landed so far. He had to break through to him; he couldn't lose him to Orochimaru.

 

“When I'm with you,” Naruto told him, “I think that maybe brothers are something like this.”

 

“Why Naruto?” Sasuke asked softly, eyes averted. “Why would you go that far for someone like me?”

 

“To me, it's a tie that I've finally made,” Naruto replied earnestly. Sasuke's eyes widened in obvious surprise.

 

Is it so hard to believe, Sasuke, that I care about you; that my bond with you, my bonds with Team 7 have made me stronger?

 

“That's why I'm going to stop you.”

 

Sasuke rose to his feet, his forehead protector in hand. “You're too late Naruto.” He tied it to his head. “You're too late now. I can't go back.”

 

“Do you still not get it, Sasuke?” Naruto asked quietly. Sasuke, suddenly looking visibly shaken, looked up at Naruto. “Don't you see that we still care about you? We still want you with us.”

 

“How?” the black-haired teen asked, looking away from them. “How can you still care?”

 

Sometimes I don't know… But then I remember… You're my best friend and my brother. Best friends don't give up on each other, no matter what.

 

“Because you're our friend,” Sakura whispered. “Team 7 is incomplete without you.”

 

Sasuke remained silent. Naruto could see the teen's muscles were tensed and shaking slightly, as if he were expecting an attack. Though after Sakura had slapped him… No, the attack he was receiving was mental and there was nothing he could do to defend against it. He had tried so hard to sever the bonds with them in order to gain the power to avenge his clan and now he was being faced with them once more; he was being offered the chance to form them again and he didn't know how to react.

 

Naruto knelt next to Sasuke and looked him in the (thankfully Sharingan-less) eye. “Come back to us, Sasuke. Stop running away. This is where you belong; with us.”

 

“I don't know where I belong.”

 

Naruto winced as Sakura slapped Sasuke again, the sound of her hand meeting his cheek echoing around the cell. The tears in her eyes were beginning to fall down her face, but she didn't seem to notice or care.

 

“Stop saying that.”

 

“Even after all I've done?” Sasuke's voice was barely above a whisper but they both heard it as clearly as if he had shouted it.

 

“Yes.” This time another voice answered. Naruto and Sakura whirled around to see Kakashi and Tsunade stepping into the cell as well. It was Kakashi who had spoken.

 

Sasuke looked up and met his former teacher's gaze and for a moment they just looked at each other. Naruto wasn't sure what they were looking for in the other's eyes, but finally - to Naruto's surprise - Sasuke dropped his gaze first.

 

Sakura looked back and forth between Kakashi and Sasuke a few times before she noticed Tsunade standing next to her first sensei and rose in surprise. Naruto watched Tsunade for any signs of irritation that they had come without her permission, but oddly enough, he didn't find any. Their eyes met and all Naruto got from her was a wave of empathy. Frankly, the blonde Shinobi was surprised at the reaction, but stepped back towards the wall as Tsunade and Kakashi approached the prisoner. Sakura backed up next to him.

 

“Sasuke,” Kakashi said. The teen in question looked back up at Kakashi, though to Naruto his gaze seemed distant. “We need to talk.”

 

Tsunade looked Sasuke up and down and turned to her student. “Sakura, did you already heal him?”

 

The pink-haired kunoichi nodded, carefully not looking at Sasuke. Naruto glanced over at the raven-haired teen and felt some sort of satisfaction that he looked - in the Sasuke way - startled that that had been the reason he had awoken to find his face in her hands. Tsunade merely nodded and turned back to the prisoner.

 

“As you know, the punishment for an S-class missing-nin is execution in this village,” the blonde kunoichi said in her Hokage mode, “but we feel your talents would be wasted if that were to happen.”

 

“You mean my Sharingan,” Sasuke clarified, speaking for the first time since the adults had arrived.

 

Tsunade at least had the grace to look slightly startled by this, though she continued on. “Among other things, yes.”

 

“You have much more potential than I do for using your Sharingan, Sasuke. You know that as well as I,” Kakashi said, sticking his hands in his pocket.

 

Naruto felt an ache in his chest. Kakashi's posture; Sasuke's attitude; Sakura's concern; it all gave Naruto the feeling that no time had passed since Team 7 had been such a well-oiled machine. But he knew better than to fall into such delusions, as much as he might want to. But it was painful to think about.

 

“In other words, we don't wish to see you executed,” Tsunade said, looking from Kakashi to Sasuke. “However, there are few in the village that would agree with us. They all see you as a traitor to us all as you went to Orochimaru,” Tsunade's voice tightened at her former teammate's name, “and want to see you dead.”

 

“It's true,” Sasuke replied tonelessly.

 

Tsunade pursed her lips. “Be that as it may, there are still those in the village that care for you.” They all happened to be in the cell currently, Naruto noticed dryly. “And there are those among the Shinobi who would be willing to give you another shot,” Tsunade continued, “if you are willing to work for Konoha.”

 

Sasuke blinked. Of all the things he had been expecting from Tsunade's arrival, this situation probably hadn't played out in the prodigy's mind.

 

“And if I say no?” he asked finally.

 

“Then the trial will be held and you will be found guilty and hung within an hour of the trial ending,” the Hokage replied briskly. Sakura inhaled sharply. Naruto found her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. The kunoichi didn't take her eyes from Sasuke, but she squeezed his hand in return and seemed to calm down slightly.

 

“And if I were to… agree?” Sasuke asked after a moment of seeming to fish for the right emphasis to put on the word.

 

“You will be a weapon of Konoha,” Tsunade said straight-forwardly. “Akatsuki has their eyes on Konoha - specifically Naruto, as you well know,” she elaborated and Naruto swallowed. Memories of Itachi and Kisame coming for him while he was out with Jiraiya still plagued his nightmares. It didn't help that that incident had been the turning point for Sasuke deciding the leave the village; Naruto still felt partly to blame for that, as Itachi had been looking for him.

 

Sasuke still seemed to remember the incident too, as his jaw tightened and something flashed in his eyes, though it was too quick for Naruto to perceive. The beating Itachi had given Sasuke was merciless and had ended with the use of the Mangekyou Sharingan that had left Sasuke comatose for weeks. Naruto had never been more scared for his friend's life until then. There were a few times after, but before that, there had been none.

 

“And after the stunt we pulled with Orochimaru,” Tsunade continued and Naruto swore Sasuke's already pale skin lost another shade of color, “he'll be coming after us after he's sufficiently recovered.” She gave him a dark smile. “You can choose to help fight our enemies and regain the trust of the village and continue to live here or you can be executed. Your choice, Sasuke-kun.” She put a purposefully emphasis on the honorific and Sasuke pursed his lips.

 

“I'll give you until tomorrow to decide,” the Hokage said and turned to leave the cell. At the door, she turned back. “Kakashi, bring whoever you found to my office in an hour.” The silver-haired jounin nodded and the blonde kunoichi gave a final look at the captive teen before leaving. “I'll be back tomorrow,” she said before disappearing down the hall.

 

Kakashi sighed and turned back to his first three students. Naruto watched his sensei's body language carefully, hoping to find some hint as to what he was thinking at that moment, but as usual, the man was an enigma. All Naruto could discern was agitation, but that was to be expected.

 

“Well, here we are,” the jounin said at long last, “the original Team 7 back in the same room.” He smiled - obviously forced - behind his mask. “Too bad it couldn't be under better circumstances.”

 

“Why did you do it?” Sasuke asked suddenly. The other three blinked.

 

“Do what?” Kakashi asked.

 

“Come back for me,” the raven-haired teen replied. His tone was obviously irritated, meaning that Sasuke was losing his precious control over his emotions. “After everything, why did you save me?”

 

Naruto exchanged startled glances with Kakashi and Sakura. The answer was obvious to them… but perhaps to Sasuke - who had been betrayed by the one he had loved so dearly at such a young age - it wasn't clear. Perhaps, Naruto realized, Sasuke's past made it hard for him to accept compassion in the world because he was afraid it would be temporary - like the love his brother had shown him. He hadn't heard all this from Sasuke, but the blonde Shinobi had later asked Kakashi about the Uchiha massacre and he had learned some interesting things about his best friend - things that made Naruto feel more able to understand him and possibly bring him back.

 

“Because we didn't want to lose you,” Sakura said finally. Sasuke looked up at her and her green eyes were filled with suppressed emotion - emotion she had been holding within her for three years.

 

“Team 7 is a three-man squad,” Naruto added resolutely, hoping to hide his own suppressed emotion. He was afraid that if he started crying now, he might be unable stop.

 

“Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha make up that three-man squad,” Kakashi added. “My Team 7.” He was doing a better job of schooling his features than his students, including Sasuke. His muscles had tensed once more and had begun to shake again from the mental onslaught.

 

“I told you once Sasuke, that continuing on the path of an avenger would leave you empty and without reason to live,” Kakashi continued. “I also told you that you have people who care for you and don't want to see that happen.” He sighed. “You have a choice to try and regain some of that life you left behind when you left the village.”

 

The jounin turned and headed for the cell door. He paused. “Don't blow it,” he said before leaving the three teens. Sasuke opened his mouth as if to call after his sensei, but no sound came out and he closed it again after a moment.

 

Naruto looked after his sensei for a few moments before turning back to his companions. Sakura moved slowly away from the wall. Sasuke remained motionless, eyes still looking in the direction Kakashi had left in. Naruto crossed his arms across his chest.

 

Sakura knelt in front of Sasuke and the raven-haired teen blinked in surprise as he came back to himself. Their eyes locked. Naruto watched on in fascination as Sasuke didn't look away from the kunoichi like he once might have. She seemed to be saying something with her eyes and Sasuke appeared to be listening. Seconds stretched into minutes at the two locked gazes. Finally Sakura closed her eyes and looked down and swallowed before looking back up.

 

“Please, Sasuke,” she whispered before rising. She looked at Naruto and he got the message that she was ready to leave. He nodded his understanding. Sakura walked towards the cell door and Naruto followed. Naruto gave his old friend one final look before leaving.

 

“Teme,” he muttered before following Sakura out.

 

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Author's Note: There it is, the big reunion. What did you think? Leave me a review and let me know.