Chapter 138: Back to the Village, Back Home, Reunions
"YEAH!"
"Naruto Uzumaki is back, baby!"
High noon. A blond boy full of restless energy stared at the familiar gates of Konoha and couldn't contain himself.
"Idiot!"
"You're so embarrassing!"
Ino, sandy ponytail swinging, took two pointed steps away from him and covered her face.
"OH!"
"Choji Akimichi is also back!"
Ino had barely finished her sentence before the round-faced boy beside her — some wire in his brain clearly crossed — flexed his arms over his head to display his considerable physique and matched Naruto's volume perfectly.
"ANOTHER ONE!"
Ino looked at the sky with the expression of someone who had been through something.
Her sensei was a chain-smoking uncle. Her three teammates consisted of a hot-blooded idiot, a lazy pineapple-head, and a bottomless pit.
Was there a single normal person anywhere in this world?
Sakura. Sakura, where are you. Ino misses you so much.
"Good energy, all of you." Asuma handed the transit documents to the gate guards, Kotetsu and Izumo, and smiled at his team. "Once we've handed in the mission report — dinner's on me. Yakiniku. Nobody leave."
"YES!"
"Asuma-sensei is THE BEST!"
Naruto and Choji erupted simultaneously.
Well. Whatever else could be said about the man, he was generous. Even Ino couldn't hold out against a yakiniku offer.
Shikamaru picked at his ear with his pinky finger, watched the three of them, flicked whatever was on the nail, and stared into the middle distance.
What a drag.
When do I get to go home.
Asuma tucked his cigarette back in his mouth and led his four shadows through the gate.
"Hey, when do you think Kakashi-sensei's team is coming back?"
Naruto jogged up alongside Asuma, looking up at him with barely-contained hope.
He'd gotten on fine with Team 10. But some part of him had been quietly missing Team 7 the whole time.
"Hard to say. Give it a couple more days — they might surprise you."
Asuma's face gave nothing away.
"That's such a non-answer..."
Naruto pouted. Asuma ruffled his hair without ceremony, sending the blond mess sideways and tilting his headband.
"Stop overthinking it. Ninja go on missions. They'll be back when they're back."
Shikamaru walked at the back of the group, dead-fish eyes drifting briefly to the two in front, then away.
Naruto's so easy to manage.
Konoha Hospital — patient ward —
"Healing well. Another few days and you'll be moving normally."
Tsunade stood in her white coat, looking at the dark-haired boy lying in the bed.
"Of course it is. I treated it personally."
Sakura sat nearby, peeling an apple, tone entirely matter-of-fact.
"Someone's never heard of humility."
Tsunade glanced at the pink-haired girl beside her, and a flicker of something wistful crossed her expression. What a talent. If Hiruzen hadn't gotten there first, she'd have taken this one as her student without a second thought.
"Humility? Can you eat it?"
Sakura set down the paring knife and regarded the single unbroken apple peel with satisfaction.
Sasuke reached for the apple.
Crunch. Sakura bit into it herself.
Sasuke quietly lowered his hand.
"I'll come by every day for the next couple of days to run rehabilitation. The Inner Sakura situation will have to wait a bit."
Tsunade glanced at Sasuke's retreating hand, then turned to go.
"Thank you, Lady Tsunade."
After she left, Sasuke was quiet for a moment. Then, carefully:
"Is there something you need from me?"
He'd pieced together the rough shape of it from the brief exchange between Sakura and Tsunade. Something about his recovery. Something that involved him afterward.
Inner Sakura. What is that?
Sakura finished the apple in a few more bites, then nodded seriously.
"I need to tell you something."
The gravity in her expression was unfamiliar — he'd never seen it on her face quite like this.
The pink-haired girl took a measured breath.
"The truth is," she said, green eyes completely earnest, "I'm kind of mentally ill."
Sasuke stared at her.
He checked his own hearing.
Did she just—
"Sakura. When you say mentally ill."
"What exactly do you mean."
"Literally what I said." She tapped her own cheek. "I have a second personality. A shadow self."
Sasuke stared at her, genuinely at a loss.
She's saying she's... not stable?
"I need to use your Sharingan to bring me into my inner world and suppress the second personality."
She tilted her head, eyes curving.
"Impressive, right? Very main-character energy. I can suddenly go berserk at a critical moment and completely demolish the enemy."
Sakura was genuinely unconcerned about whether three-tomoe Sharingan could hold down Inner Sakura. She just didn't want Sasuke carrying unnecessary pressure over it.
She understood Sasuke well — Itachi had understood him better than anyone, which she hated to admit, but it was true. Sasuke was fundamentally straightforward. Tell him something directly and he'd accept it.
He'd believed Itachi's explanation of the massacre as a test of his ability.
He'd believed Tobi's story about Itachi being a pawn of the village.
He'd believed Hashirama's explanation of what a Hokage was.
Then he'd stopped believing anyone and tried to do everything himself, only to be stopped by Naruto.
Simple. Sincere. Easily led by whoever told him the truth first.
"I don't know exactly what you need," Sasuke said finally, "but if you need me, I'll do it."
"It's nothing complicated — just look at me with the Sharingan. But you're resting for now. I'll come back tomorrow."
She stood to go.
"Sakura."
She turned.
Sasuke had an expression that was somewhere between awkward and embarrassed.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask for a while."
"What?"
He scratched his cheek. The awkwardness intensified.
"Why did you cut your hair?"
Why did I cut my hair.
Ask your lovely older brother.
Sakura's internal alarm went off, but she kept her expression easy.
"You liked the long hair?"
A slight, muffled sound of acknowledgment.
Right. Short hair forever then. Don't push me or I'll go bald.
"Long hair is a hassle. I cut it. Not a big deal."
She left before he could follow up.
"Oh..."
Sasuke looked at the doorway for a moment, feeling vaguely unsettled.
It was just a question about hair.
Sakura walked through Konoha's streets alone, planning her afternoon. Report home first. Then the Senju district to continue Yang Release training.
Tsunade's method for dealing with Inner Sakura had its merits. But Yang Release development couldn't be neglected regardless — it would gradually weaken Inner Sakura's dominance, and it laid the groundwork for the training path she'd already mapped out.
As for the front line — until Inner Sakura was resolved, Hiruzen wasn't going to let her leave the village anyway.
"Sakura!"
A familiar voice, closing fast from behind.
She turned — and a sand-colored figure launched itself through the air and collided with her chest, sending her stumbling back several steps.
Something even the reanimated Hashirama and the Fourth Raikage had failed to accomplish. Ino had just done it.
New achievement unlocked: Staggering Haruno Sakura.
"AHHHH!"
"Sakura you have NO IDEA what I have been through!"
"Only this familiar flat chest can soothe my wounded soul!"
Ino burrowed into Sakura's arms, pressing her face into the pink fabric, feeling every accumulated emotional blow from weeks with those four idiots dissolve instantly.
Sakura laughed and patted her on the head.
Flat chest. Of course.
Ino really does understand me.
The odd weight that had been sitting in Sakura's chest for weeks — the accumulated strangeness and pressure of everything that had happened — lifted without ceremony.
Ino's hand reached around to Sakura's back and found nothing. She pulled back and stared.
She'd been too excited to look properly before — she'd just spotted the pink and launched herself forward.
"SAKURA WHERE IS YOUR HAIR?!"
Sakura barely got her hands over her ears in time.
She clamped a hand over Ino's mouth.
"Mmmmf—!!"
Even muffled, Ino's expression communicated the full depth of her feelings on the matter.
You will explain this to me in complete detail or we are not okay.
"It was getting in the way. I cut it."
Ino pried Sakura's hand off her mouth with both of hers.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR REASONS!"
"I want long-haired Sakura back!"
Sakura's eye twitched.
Life was hard.
"Hey! Long time no see."
Asuma arrived with Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji in tow.
"Long time no see, old man."
Sakura smiled at the group.
"Heh — Sakura! Weren't you on a mission with Kakashi-sensei?"
Naruto's signature grin. "Are you all back? Did Jiraiya-sensei come back too?"
"Just me and Sasuke for now. Jiraiya and Kakashi are still out there."
Naruto's face fell.
He'd assumed that if Sakura was back, everyone was back. But—
And underneath that, something else nagging at him. What kind of mission needed Jiraiya, Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke — and specifically left him out?
He didn't have anything against Team 10. He just felt like he'd been quietly put to the side.
Sakura could see it on his face, and felt a thread of helplessness.
There was no version of this where Naruto could go to the front line. This wasn't the Fourth Shinobi World War of the original story — it wasn't being fought around the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails specifically. And Naruto had no control over the Nine-Tails' power yet.
A mistake in that context had consequences nobody could absorb.
"Since Sakura's here, might as well join us," Asuma said, hand drifting to his wallet. One more mouth was nothing. "We're getting yakiniku."
Ino, despite her feelings about the hair situation, immediately seized Sakura's hand.
"Yes, come with us! Asuma-sensei is unreliable in general but very reliable about food!"
Sakura looked at the invitation, at the free meal, and saw no reason to say no.
Night had settled over Konoha, lights coming on one by one across the village.
Sakura stood in front of her house and looked up.
The living room was lit. A figure moving inside. Her second-floor bedroom light was on too.
"I'm home!"
She pushed the door open. The warm glow of the living room settled over her.
"Sakura?"
"Is that Sakura?"
Her mother's voice, from somewhere inside. She was trying to keep it controlled. She wasn't quite managing.
Having her daughter step onto a battlefield — Mebuki Haruno had made herself accept it. Sakura was a Konoha ninja, and the Hokage's student. She didn't have a choice.
A woman in warm home clothes came around the corner, and the moment she saw Sakura, whatever control she'd been maintaining let go. She crossed the room and pulled her daughter into her arms.
"My child..."
Sakura heard the tremor in her voice and slowly raised her arms around her mother's waist.
"I'm home."
She looked at her mother's face — the familiar face — and noticed a new line at the corner of her eye that hadn't been there before.
"MY SAKURA-CHAN!"
"PAPA MISSED YOU SO MUCH!"
"COME HERE, PAPA NEEDS A HUG!"
"UWAAAAAAH, PAPA HAS BEEN WORRYING EVERY SINGLE DAY—!"
Kizashi Haruno appeared like a natural disaster — starfish hair, wide streaks of cartoon tears running down his face, launching himself at the two of them with both arms open.
The entire aesthetic of the scene transformed instantaneously into something from a comedy manga.
How does this man do that. How does his presence just change the visual register of the entire room.
"IDIOT!"
"What kind of father flings himself at his own child?!"
"Can you act NORMAL for FIVE SECONDS—!"
Mebuki's hand snapped out like a striking cobra and planted itself directly on Kizashi's face before he could complete his approach. Full stop. And then, smoothly, an immaculate armbar.
"UWAAAAAAH!"
"MY PRECIOUS DAUGHTER—!"
"PAPA LOVES YOU—!"
Kizashi flopped like a fish out of water, fully pinned, arms waving.
...You two are always like this at home, aren't you.
That technique, though.
"STOP EMBARRASSING YOURSELF IN FRONT OF YOUR DAUGHTER!"
"ACT YOUR AGE!"
Sakura scratched her cheek, watching her parents' completely normal domestic scene, and moved to step inside.
A sharp gaze caught her.
"You."
"How many times have I told you."
"Shoes off at the entrance."
"Lined up neatly."
"I thought you'd finally learned this."
"Apparently one trip away undoes everything."
Sakura silently, obediently took her shoes off and placed them correctly.
Mebuki gave a satisfied nod. Below her, Kizashi tapped the floor rapidly in surrender.
She released him.
"Good. Wash your hands. Dinner's ready — fish and spare ribs."
Hiruzen had sent word ahead that Sakura would be home today. Mebuki had cooked accordingly.
Sakura pressed her hands against her stomach and sniffed toward the kitchen.
She could probably fit a little more in.
She absolutely could not fit any more in.
Sakura leaned back in her chair and very gently pressed her palm to the slight curve of her abdomen.
Her father had been piling food onto her plate for the entire meal. She'd already had yakiniku with Team 10. And then this.
Even her considerable appetite had limits.
This was the moment she genuinely envied Hinata.
Hinata's stomach capacity would have handled this without blinking.
"Sweetheart. Dishes~"
Mebuki surveyed the table with satisfaction, then turned to Kizashi.
"Yes ma'am."
He was already clearing plates.
Sakura watched him and felt something shift. That used to be her job.
Maybe there were advantages to being away from home regularly.
She probably wasn't going anywhere tonight, though. Walking out the same day she got back felt wrong. She'd stay.
Wind moving through the night. A blond head of hair catching it.
Naruto sat on a rooftop, looking out over the scattered lights of Konoha.
He wasn't stupid.
Sakura was keeping something from him. He'd gone by Sasuke's house earlier — no one home. Something was off. Not just Sakura. Asuma-sensei too.
He didn't know what they were hiding.
It felt like being left out. Again.
But he could read intention. He knew the difference between being excluded with malice and being excluded with kindness.
This was the second kind.
"Hey."
A voice. From somewhere inside him.
"Look at that. They left you out again."
The Nine-Tails. Choosing to speak.
Naruto said nothing. He kept looking at the nighttime view of the village that he'd memorized long ago.
"Want to know why?"
"Why they're keeping just you in the dark?"
The voice curled around the edges of everything, just enough invitation in it.
"...Why?"
He waited a long time before asking.
"Go somewhere. You'll see for yourself."
The Nine-Tails always had that quality — half-revelation, half-bait. But Naruto's curiosity was stronger than his suspicion, and he got to his feet.
Kushina Uzumaki had been the Nine-Tails' previous jinchūriki. The place where she'd lived before marriage — the Nine-Tails knew it well.
And right now, the Nine-Tails knew something else: the Two-Tails was in Konoha.
Tailed beasts shared a kind of awareness of each other. An instinct.
He wasn't scheming. He simply wanted to see the Two-Tails.
What Naruto would do once he found out — that was hardly the Nine-Tails' problem.
The quiet of the night didn't slow Naruto down. Even knowing the Nine-Tails might not have his best interests at heart, he still wanted to know what everyone was keeping from him.
Moonlight spread across the rooftops. Without quite knowing how he'd gotten there, Naruto found himself standing at the edge of a forest, looking at a wooden building half-hidden in the trees.
He'd never been here before.
He hadn't known this place existed.
But there was a figure in a second-floor window.
White patient's clothes. Golden hair moving in the night wind. Fine features. A pallor that made her look like someone who had been beautiful even through illness.
Naruto stared up at Yugito's silhouette.
Something stirred in him that he recognized from somewhere else.
He'd felt it once before. Looking at Gaara.
Same as me.
From inside Naruto, through Naruto's eyes, the Nine-Tails looked up at the figure in the window.
More precisely — at what lived inside that figure.
Matatabi.
It's been a while.
(Chapter End)
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