Death is the only way to freedom

Chapter 9: What’s going on?

“Sasuke kissed you?” Tsunade gave the expressionless blonde a curious look.

“… “

“Yes, and right on his mouth!” Sakura answered as Naruto didn’t seem to want to.

“Oh!” The Hokage ran a series of test on the blonde to check his condition. She didn’t like the silent boy, but accepted that he might still be too traumatized.

“Is it alright for me to ask you a couple of questions, brat?” Naruto stared at her for a few seconds before nodding in acceptance.

“How do you feel?”

“Okay.” Naruto´s voice was calm and emotionless, which troubled the blonde woman. This was so not like her loud and cheerful brat.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“… Itachi,” he said, as she examined his belly for traces of the seal or the Kyuubi.

“What about him?”

“He’s… dead, right? I… I killed… him?”

“Yes, you did.”

“I tried to… kill… Sasuke, didn’t I?”

“Yes, and Itachi stepped in between and saved him! Do you know why?”

“Yeah… I do. He asked me to… take good care… of his little brother… to save him from his own darkness… to save him from himself!” He said and sounded like he just realized what these words meant.

“Will you tell me the reason?” Tsunade asked softly, not wanted to put pressure on him.

“… I… He… I want to see him!” Naruto´s blue eyes locked onto Tsunade´s. She could somehow feel that Naruto wasn’t going to tell her the reasons for his own nor Itachi´s actions right away… she had to give him time.

“Who… Sasuke?”

“No!”

“… Itachi? Why would you want to do that?” Tsunade asked as she didn’t understand why her blonde brat would want to see the man who had tried to kill him.

“I promised him something before… he passed away! He wanted me to… have his belongings… especially his necklace and hitai-ate!”

“I can’t do that. Sasuke is his only relative and all Itachi´s belongings will have to go to him!” She frowned as she saw the sad and defeated look on Naruto´s face. “But because I know how important it is to you, to keep your promises I will talk to Sasuke about it… okay?”

“Thank you, Baa-sama.” She couldn’t help to smile, at his words. This was more like him though Tsunade felt troubled that the blonde seemed to have been close to Itachi somehow.

~ # ~

“We don´t know, Sasuke… We just don´t know!”

“What do you mean? You don´t know?” Sasuke fumed at his former sensei’s words. “The Amaterasu is the strongest sharingan ability of my clan… I’ve never heard that anyone was able to survive such an attack!”

“Would you prefer that Naruto had died?” Sasuke´s face turned even paler as usual at Kakashi´s calm answer.

“Of course not…But Itachi never missed a target… Argh! This is so frustrating.” The raven-haired began to walk around in circles in the small living-room.

“So why did you kiss him, Sasuke?”

“Hnnn.”

“You can tell me… I can keep a secret if you wish me to!”

“…” Sasuke stopped to give the silver-haired nin a glare. “Why would I want to tell?”

“Too feel better?”

“No!”

“It´s you decision… but I´m always here for you, Sasuke-kun.”

“Hnnn.” The Uchiha shoved his hands into the pockets of the black pair of pants he had borrowed along with a black tee from Kakashi. Sasuke realized that he had grown quite a bit since his departure and he was almost as tall as his sensei.

“You said, that you would tell me everything once we arrived here… so spill it!”

“Not much has changed in your manners eh, Sasuke?” Kakashi scratches the back of his head lazily.

“Whatever.”

“Well then… as I said before; everything will be fine. Naruto´s recovery seems to be smoothly and he’s most likely going to become the Rokudaime after Tsunade-sama.”

“I know, you’ve told me that already. What about me then? How will my punishment be and who long will they keep me locked up before I receive it?”

“Easy now, Sasuke-kun! You’ll be fine. You won’t be sent to prison and you won’t be punished as long as you behave.”

“Why? Because you’ve lied about what happened to the council?”

“You have done nothing to betray Konoha, except from running away. You have not told Orochimaru any of our secrets nor giving him any scrolls.” Kakashi said calmly. “You have not killed any of our shinobi either! And yes, I lied to save your ass, Sasuke.”

“And why would you do that, sensei?”

“You killed Orochimaru, didn’t you?”

“Yes! But that doesn’t answer my question!”

“I know that, Sasuke-kun. I did it because I couldn’t bear to see you return here only to be locked away for the rest of your life or be killed for something that wasn’t your fault to begin with. You only ran to become stronger, not because you hated Konoha or us. Besides it would kill Naruto, if he lost you like that… and I can’t let that happen now can I.”

~ # ~

“Alright! I am happy to be the one who can finally tell you that you are just a normal shinobi like the rest of us, brat!” Tsunade said with a warm smile.

“Huh? You mean…?” Naruto stared at the Hokage with hesitation.

“I don´t know how, but the Kyuubi is gone… I double checked your entire system and there was no trace of the youma anywhere. Congratulations… you are one hundred percent human.”

“I´m so happy for you, O-nii chan!” The pink-haired medic wrapped her arms around a very happy looking Naruto´s neck and hugged him tightly against her chest. She wanted to kiss him, but wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea because of Sasuke´s actions a little while ago.

“You have to take it easy from now on, so I’ll put you on guard duty as soon as you’ve recovered and ready to resume work.” Tsunade ordered with a firm voice.

“Baa-sama! I don´t want to be on guard duty… It´s boooooriiiing!” The blonde grinned.

“Baka!” Sakura hit his head. “You need to learn about your new boundaries before getting into any dangerous missions!”

“I agree with Sakura-chan… I’ll ask the rookie nine and Kakashi to train with you. Jiraiya will help out too… If you want I´m sure that Sasuke will be free to…”

“I don´t want to, Tsunade!” The blonde cut her off.

“What?!” She frowned.

“I don´t want to train with Sasuke!” Naruto said seriously.

“Okay… If that’s what you want. You should get some sleep now, brat. We’ll check in on you later… and all your friends are dying to say hallo to you.” Tsunade smiled at the blonde and signaled Sakura to follow her outside.

“Meet me at my office in five minutes, Sakura-chan!” The blonde Hokage said as she formed the seals and disappeared in a puffing white cloud.

Sakura turned to say goodbye to Naruto, but saw that he was already sleeping. She walked up to the bed and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

“I love you, Naruto!” She whispered into his sunny hair before she formed the hand seals to transport her to Tsunade´s office.

~ # ~

“Thank you!” Kakashi almost suffocated from his tea at Sasuke´s words.

“No big deal, Sasuke-kun… I´m your friend after all and friends help each other!”

“… So can I go see Naruto now?”

“Nah… Tsunade doesn’t want anyone to disturb Naruto-kun anymore today… he needs to regain his strength and therefore he must rest a lot.”

“Fine! Can I go home then?”

“Sure… Just wait a minute, and then I’ll be ready!” Kakashi got up from the couch and walked into the other room.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh… almost forgot. There’s a condition for staying out of confinement! I´m your guardian and there will be a pair of Anbu, who will keep an eye on your movement.”

“What?!... Damn it, Kakashi!”

“Would you rather stay in confinement or jail?” Kakashi asked the fuming Uchiha.

“… Come on then, but don´t expect me to feed you!” The copy-nin couldn’t help to smile beneath his mask at the young man’s attitude. ´ He act cool and unfeeling but is really happy to be back home after all, of that I´m sure´ Kakashi thought, as he followed the last Uchiha through the door and out to the bustling streets of Konoha.

~ # ~

“Is something wrong with Naruto?” The pink-haired medic gave her sensei a worried look.

“His recovery is better than normal, probably a side effect from having shared his body with the Kyuubi for so many years.”

“A side effect, what do you mean by that. Isn’t the Kyuubi dead?”

“Yes, the demon is gone. I´m worried though! I don´t think that the encounter with Itachi was a random one!”

“Kakashi, Sai and I had that thought too, Hokage-sama. Kakashi suspects that Naruto fought Itachi because he wanted to die and that he somehow… had some kind of agreement with Itachi.” Sakura stared at her feet, afraid of the consequences for her blonde friend.

“I know. Kakashi told me of his suspicion already.” The blonde Hokage said calmly as she opened a new bottle of Sake and took a sip of the bottle.

“So what do we do about it?” Sakura tried to stay calm.

“I want to know the truth as badly as you do, Sakura-chan, but we won’t get anything from Naruto if we put pressure on him. I want you too keep an eye on him and try to find out what his connection to Itachi was.”

“Sure… I’ll do my best, Tsunade-sama.” The pink-haired medic sighed in relief and was more than happy to be able to spend more time with Naruto.

“Oh, and Sakura-chan!”

“Yes, Hokage-sama?”

“I want you to find out what’s going on between Sasuke and Naruto as well, so if you’d please take Naruto to see Sasuke tomorrow, so that they can talk things through, I’d be grateful.”

“What?!” Green eyes widened. “But Naruto said that he didn’t want to see Sasuke!”

“No, he just said that he didn’t want to spar with him… Is there a problem?”

“I just don´t want to see either Naruto or Sasuke get hurt if they get into a fight again like at the valley, that’s all!”

“Oh!” Tsunade tilted her head to the side and gave her student a curious glare. “Don´t worry. Kakashi-sensei will be there and I don´t think that neither Naruto nor Sasuke want’s to harm each other anymore!” The Hokage couldn’t help to grin as the pink-haired medic left her office with an angry face. ´Guess you’re a very popular brat now a days, Naruto. I hope, that you’ll be able to find happiness with who ever you choose.´