Third Person's POV

"The Godaime Hokage?" Naruto asked as Tsunade nodded with a smile. It was morning and they were at the restaurant they ate at during the first time they met. Naruto processed the situation first then put his hands together once he finally got it
"I see! Congrats Tsunade obaa-chan!" he said as Tsunade twitched from what he called her
"Now that we've got you as our Hokage then everything will be alright!"he said, he then crossed his arms
"But then Jiji was wise and nice while she's mean and greedy and has a nasty temper.." Naruto rambled on as it slowly got on to Tsunade's nerves while Shizune tried to stop Tsunade from listening but she listened until the end. She slammed her fist to the table and closed in on Naruto with a tick mark on her forehead
"You wanna take this outside kid?!" she yelled as Naruto sweat dropped, Jiraiya only sighed as they all went outside of the restaurant for the fight. Naruto knew that it got to Tsunade's nerves but he's actually fired up for this match, to pay back for last time was what he told Kurama.

Tsunade stood there confidently knowing she's gonna win again
"I'm not perfect but I'm the Hokage now. I'm not supposed to dirty my hands on a little squirt like you but..." she then raised her index finger
"One finger is all I need" she said with a smile
"Not this time! And stop calling me a squirt! I'm just a kid right now but I'll be Hokage someday!" he declared as his words got to Tsunade again. Inside, Kurama sighed as he rested his head on his hand or paw

"Naruto, you're gonna lose again" he said as he yawned while inner Naruto turned to him
"Well I wasn't serious last time! This time I'm gonna show her!" Naruto said while Kurama only sighed.

In reality, he ran towards her holding out his fist, when he closed in Tsunade dodged expecting a punch but Naruto jumped and flipped right behind her sending a kick while Tsunade dodged by moving to the side, Naruto made a clone to the side she went to and the clone aimed for an axe kick only for Tsunade to flicked it to smoke, Naruto appeared before her aiming for a punch but Tsunade dodged down and got up using her finger to remove his forehead protector, with her strength it sent Naruto stumbling backwards. 'That actually hurt!' he thought as he felt the pain tingling from his forehead to the back of his head. He opened his eyes to see Tsunade's hand on a position to flick his forehead, from the pain he felt earlier he expected the flick to be as strong as that so he shut his eyes tightly expecting to feel the pain but instead of that, he felt fingers holding his chin as lips were pressed softly against his forehead. He opened his eyes in shock realizing that Tsunade is actually giving him a kiss on the forehead. She pulled away and let go of him then lightly pushed him by the chest, she grinned with pinkish cheeks
"You'll grow up to be a fine man" she said, Naruto stood there still processing the situation then grinned with his own pinkish cheeks as he placed his hands behind his head
"You bet obaa-chan!" he said, both Jiraiya and Shizune smiled at the two as Tonton oinked in happiness.

Jiraiya put a hand on his waist and said
"Okay, let's fill our stomachs and make our way back to Konoha" Naruto cheered as he felt his tummy rumble. They all ate their breakfast and finally made their way back to Konoha, Jiraiya sulked at Naruto for getting a kiss from Tsunade while Naruto stuck his tongue out in return. A few days later, they finally arrived back at Konoha. They took a day to rest from their travel and the next day Tsunade had to move to the Hokage building, she then had a meeting with the elders while Naruto waited outside. After the meeting, Naruto reminded Tsunade about Kakashi, Sasuke, and Lee's condition so they made their way to the infirmary of the village.

In the room where Sasuke is, Sakura was by his side watching over him the whole time. Tsunade entered while Shizune followed, Sakura commented in her head how beautiful she was. Naruto came in with a huge grin on his face
"Sakura-chan! Everything's gonna be okay! Sasuke's gonna be alright now" Naruto said as he looked at the sleeping Sasuke, Tsunade walked past them to Sasuke's side as Sakura turned to her
"Gai-sensei told me about you, please save Sasuke-kun"she said as she bowed
"Leave it to me" Tsunade said with aa smile as she turned to Sasuke. She put her hand over his forehead and channeled chakra to her palm emitting a greenish blue glow from it. A few tears slipped past Sakura as she silently prayed for Sasuke to be alright, in a while Tsunade stopped the flow of chakra as Sasuke groaned a bit then slowly opened his eyes.

"Sasuke!"

"Sasuke-kun..."

The two called in relief, Tsunade stepped back as Sasuke slowly sat up life still drained from his eyes due to the Genjutsu he was under. Tears continued to fall from Sakura's eyes as she hugged Sasuke
"Sasuke-kun..!" she called again,
"You're finally awake Sasuke" Naruto said grinning, he then looked at Sakura sobbing as she held Sasuke, he felt a pang in his heart as he watched his crush hug his rival and friend. Despite that, he only smiled as he walked out of the room. Tsunade understood the little relationship of the three and only smiled. Naruto led her to another room to heal Kakashi. Once he was awake, Tsunade started talking about how it was pathetic of him to lose to them when he was the best Shinobi in Konoha, Kakashi only sighed as he apologized. The whole time, Gai was waiting anxiously for Tsunade to finish and check on Lee. Naruto and Gai led Tsunade to Lee's room only to see him in crutches, Tsunade gave a serious look when her eyes settled on Lee which Naruto noticed but didn't bring him up. Tsunade turned to him
"Should you be dawdling around here?" she asked, Naruto then realized that he had to meet with Iruka. Tsunade told him to go while Naruto said he'll leave things to her then went off. On his way, he slowed down to a walk as he thought 'Weird..'

"What is?" Kurama asked

'You've noticed the face she made when she saw Bushy Brows right?' Naruto asked as Kurama nodded
'It could be bad'

"It could be. But anyway kit, after your little meet up with scar-faced dolphin we're training. You have to master the Rasengan with only one hand, not two and no clones" Kurama said as Naruto slumped
"Okay..." he mumbled as he made a run to Ichiraku Ramen to meet Iruka who is treating him to ramen. After that, Naruto went to his usual training ground to master the Rasengan. He tried to do it on one hand for a few times but fails and leaves his right hand aching, to rest his hand a bit, Kurama let him train a bit with Taijutsu and using his kunai, he also gave him situations to improve Naruto's strategy in battle.

Some time later, Naruto heard from the others about Lee's condition. As he was on his way to visit Lee he ends up meeting him. They talked for a while and the two Shinobi went on their way, Naruto made sure to visit Lee more often, that includes Sasuke too. Not much time has passed and Tsunade formally took the position as Konoha's Godaime Hokage. Since the final exam of the Chunin Exams was suspended, no one was supposed to pass but Tsunade heard that the Sandaime highly praised a certain Shinobi's match and so she promoted him to the rank of Chunin. The newly promoted Chunin could only sigh and complain that he'll get more troublesome work, thus he is no other than Shikamaru. Word of Lee's surgery reached Naruto and so the blonde Jinchūriki made sure to visit Lee before it happens.

Everyday Sakura went to visit Sasuke, bringing fresh flowers and food. She'd try to make conversation with him but he stayed silent the whole time.
"Thank goodness your injury wasn't serious. Naruto was relieved too" Sakura said as she set down the vase with a fresh flower then went out to buy him food also telling him that she'll be right back. Sasuke sat up as he thought of the missions and events where Naruto greatly contributed to the success and it angered him, he lied back down and faced the window as his brother Itachi came to mind. He remembered him saying that he had no interest in him and Jiraiya replied

"Your target is Naruto after all"

He clicked his tongue as he shut his eyes closed to sleep off the thought. He woke up a few minutes later and sat up as he heard footsteps approaching his hospital room. He recognized the silhouette outside to be Sakura when another voice called
"Oi, Sakura-chan!" he recognized the voice as Naruto's, he furrowed his brows and gritted his teeth in anger as he glared at the door, 'Naruto!' he thought angrily.

-In another place-

A weak Orochimaru sweated bullets as he feels his body weakening, unable to move his bandaged arms due to his fight with Sarutobi Hiruzen. Four Shinobi stood before him as he spoke weakly
"It's time..." he slowly looked up to his subordinates
"Head for Konohagakure right now!" he ordered.

-Back in Konoha-

The door opened as Sakura walked in carrying a paperbag with her, Sasuke remained sitting up as he looked at his fist.
"I got you some apples. You like them right?" she said as she took a seat next to the bed and took out an apple
"Doesn't it look good?" she said before putting down the paperbag and looked for the knife as Naruto came walking in.
"It's right in front of you, ya know" he pointed out as Sakura realized that it was just sitting at the table. Naruto laughed
"Hahaha! You getting all scatterbrained in front of Sasuke is pretty lame, ya know!" he said
"I'd rather hear lame from anyone but you!" Sakura retorted, Sasuke side-eyed him with a glare as he remembered how Naruto was able to fight Gaara and beating him in the end and how Sakura thanked him for saving her but he told her that it was Naruto and not him. He trembled in anger as he thought of all this while Naruto and Sakura finished their friendly dispute. Sakura peeled the apple and cut it in pieces while Sasuke thought back to Itachi's words.

"You are weak, you don't have enough hate"

He gritted his teeth from the thought as Sakura used a toothpick to pick a pice of the apple and held it up for Sasuke to eat.
"Here you go Sasuke-kun" she said with a smile. Sasuke whipped his head to her with angry eyes and smacked the plate of apples from her hands. Sakura looked back at him with worried eyes
"S-Sasuke-kun..?" Naruto looked at the Uchiha as he stood by Sakura
"Oi, what's the matter?" he asked, Sasuke glared at him as Naruto raised a brow in question
"What?" he asked while Sakura looked at the two worrying that they'll fight
"Oi Naruto..." he said
"What is it?" Naruto asked impatiently
"Fight me... right now!" Sasuke said as Sakura gasped. Naruto slumped at his words
"Hah? You just got treated by Tsunade obaa-chan, what're you saying?"

"Just fight me!" Sasuke demanded as he activated his two-tomoe Sharingan telling them that he's serious.
"You think you saved me? I don't care if she's the Godaime Hokage or whatever but she should've just minded her own business!" he said, Naruto furrowed his brows as he felt offended that Sasuke was saying these things about Tsunade
"What?" he said angrily, Sasuke got up from his hospital bed and stood face-to-face with Naruto.
"You said you wanted to fight me right? I'm saying let's do it now! Or have you chickened out?" he sneered as Naruto gritted his teeth.
"Sasuke-kun, hey, what's going on?! Naruto, you say something too! What's this all of a sudden?" Sakura tried to get answers from her fellow teammates.

Naruto took a deep breath to calm himself down then looked at Sasuke
"I do want to fight you, but not with you like this" Naruto said calmly. Sasuke widened his eyes offended as Naruto walked away
"I haven't chickened out Sasuke, I will fight you. Focus on recovering first, then we fight" Naruto said, Sasuke clenched his fist as he glared daggers at his blonde teammate
"Excuses, are you that afraid you'll lose to me?" he said cockily as Naruto stopped on his tracks
"No. I'm just afraid that you'll lose to me. After all, you're still recovering" he replied nonchalantly as he put his hands behind his head
"I want us to fight with all we've got, so I need you in full health if we want that happening" he added.

Before he could take another step, Sasuke did some handsigns forming the Chidori out of anger, Sakura gasped in shock, tears forming in her eyes as Sasuke charged at Naruto
"No!" she yelled as she moved forward to step in hoping to stop Sasuke, but he was already closing in on Naruto. He outstretched his hand to hit him with Chidori when Naruto ducked to dodge, Naruto then quickly grabbed Sasuke's wrist and redirected his Chidori towards the wall next to the door. After that, he twisted Sasuke's arm to his back and pushed him to the floor filled with rubble. Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan grunting as Naruto sighed, Sakura felt her knees weaken then dropped to the floor with the feeling of relief that nothing worse happened.
"You sure are stubborn Sasuke-teme. And just when I told you to rest" he sighed holding his grip on Sasuke so he wouldn't move.

Loud running footsteps were heard as they closed in, revealing Kakashi. His eyes widened to see teary-eyed Sakura on her knees and Sasuke being held down by Naruto. Naruto side-glanced Kakashi who was still taking in what happened.
"Oh, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto beamed releasing Sasuke as if nothing happened
"Can you take Sasuke back to bed? I still gotta visit Bushy Brows so I gotta hurry" Naruto said walking up to Kakashi,
"And don't worry! I'll talk to Tsunade obaa-chan about the damages and work my butt fixing it" he added, Kakashi looked at Naruto then to Sasuke and Sakura and the damaged wall. Naruto snickered as he walked past Kakashi
"Well, gotta go! I'm leaving Sasuke and Sakura-chan to you sensei!" he said as he dashed away to Lee's hospital room.

Kakashi took another look at the room and his remaining students then sighed, now getting the gist of what happened based on what he arrived to. He walks up to Sasuke who is slowly getting up, the shocked look remaining on his face from what happened.
"Sasuke-" Kakashi spoke but Sasuke turned on his heel, opened the window and went out.
"Sasuke-kun, wait!" Sakura called but was too late. Tears started to fall as she slowly turned to Kakashi
"Sensei... what do we do? I... I couldn't do anything... I..." Sakura said as Kakashi patted her head
"Don't worry, leave everything to me" Kakashi reassured as Sakura continued to cry.

Sasuke didn't know where he is going, all he knows is to go someplace where he can be alone. He ended up going to one of the training grounds he'd go to with the other members of Team 7. He leaned to a tree to catch his breath, it's true that he isn't fully recovered but he didn't care. His ill feeling towards Naruto took over him before he knew it, he made a Chidori again and hit the tree with it, creating a big crater. When he finally calmed down he decided to walk around for a bit to clear his mind. Despite his efforts, he still can't accept the previous battles where Naruto triumphed the fights even though he was a weak guy back at the academy, the fact that Naruto is actually stronger than him angered him.

Coincidentally, he heard Naruto's voice in the distance.
"Come on! Hurry!" Naruto yelled. Curious to what he's doing, Sasuke decided to take a look. In an open space, Naruto ran excitedly then stopped to look behind
"Hurry up! Tsunade obaa-chan!" he urged, Sasuke turned to see the newly appointed Hokage taking her time towards Naruto
"What is it brat? I have to prepare for Lee's surgery in the afternoon" she said with her arms crossed. Naruto ran towards her and grabbed her hand pulling her with him
"That's why you gotta hurry! It won't take long, ya know!" he said. They finally stopped about 5 meters away from a tree, Naruto let go of Tsunade's hand then faced her. Tsunade shifted her weight to one leg and crossed her arms
"So? What is it?" she asked impatiently, Naruto snickered for a bit then grinned
"I mastered it" he said, Tsunade raised a brow as she asked

"Mastered what?"

"Oh come on Baa-chan! You know! I know you know!" Naruto pouted as Tsunade thought for a bit then smirked
"Oh? So you finally mastered it?" she asked as Naruto nodded
"Yup! And I wanted to show it to you!" Naruto said, he turned towards the tree and took his position. He held out his right hand and concentrated all his chakra into it like he did in training. Sasuke wondered what Naruto was referring to until he saw it, a ball of chakra formed on Naruto's hand. Naruto then ran towards the tree and thrust out his hand, hitting its trunk with the jutsu. The jutsu created a circular gap on the tree, both Tsunade and Sasuke watched eyes wide and mouth agape. Tsunade then smirked as she clapped her hands, Naruto heard her applaud and smirked
"What do you think? Pretty cool right?" he asked
"Yeah, you did well brat. Not bad" she said grinning ear to ear, Naruto reflected her grin and laughed
"Hehe! Even Ero-Sennin was surprised!" he exclaimed.

The two continued to chatter as they walked away, Sasuke stepped out to see the impact Naruto's justu made on the tree. He then compared it to the impact of his Chidori and notices the big difference between the two. He gritted his teeth and started punching trees to vent his anger. After a few hits he grew tired and sat by the tree, leaning his back to its trunk, 'What have I been doing up until now?' he asked himself.

In a distance, the four Shinobi under Orochimaru watched him, one of them smirked as they turned their back
"We'll get him tonight" they said as they all disappeared.

A shuriken attached to a wire went passed Sasuke and around the tree, trapping him to it. Sasuke grunted as he felt the wire tightening, he then glared up to see Kakashi holding the other end of the wire. Sasuke attempted to free himself with what little strength he had but it was futile.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked
"If I don't do this then you'll surely run away right? After all, you're not the type to listen quietly to lectures" Kakashi answered, Sasuke only clicked his tongue as he looked to his side

"Sasuke... Forget about something like revenge"

"What?" Sasuke asked whipping his head to him, as if Kakashi's suggestion is impossible for him to do.
"In this business, I've seen guys like you. But the final days of those who seek revenge are never good. They're tragic" Kakashi explained. Sasuke only gritted his teeth so Kakashi continued
"You'll only hurt yourself and agonize more than now. Even if you succeed in revenge, all that will remain is emptiness"

"Shut up! What do you know? Don't talk to me as if you know!"

"Easy now, calm down"

Sasuke then sneered
"If you like then shall I go kill the most important person to you? That way, you'll realize just how far off you are on what you said" Kakashi didn't show any reaction and kept his gaze on the Uchiha
"Well, I wouldn't mind if you'd do that. Unfortunately, I don't even have a person like that" he said, Kakashi then gave him a close-eyed smile
"They've already been killed" he said nonchalantly as Sasuke's eyes widen shocked to hear his words
"I've lived longer than you have and the times were not good. I know all too well about the agony of losing something" Kakashi added, Sasuke only looked down as Kakashi's words remained on his mind
"Well, both you and I aren't the lucky ones. That's for damn sure. But we're not the worst either" Kakashi said as Sasuke widened his eyes as if he's realizing something
"You and I, we both have already found dear comrades haven't we?" Kakashi asked as a smiling Sakura and Naruto appeared in Sasuke's mind.
"It's because I have lost that I understand" he said as he released the wire on Sasuke
"The Chidori is a power I gave to you because you now have something important. You should know that it's not a power to be used on your comrade or to use for revenge and I'm sure you know what it should be used for" Kakashi continued
"Think hard about whether or not what I'm saying is wrong" Kakashi said before leaving. Sasuke was now all alone on the training ground, silently and carefully pondering on what Kakashi just told him.

Naruto sighed as he drank some water, taking a break from his training. He then remembered how Sasuke wanted to fight him back in the hospital, he breathed out as he lay on the grass watching the birds fly by.
"That Sasuke, he's so focused on revenge that he wants to get stronger. What about the rest of Team 7? The comrades he has now?" Naruto asked aloud waking the fox sleeping inside him

"The Uchiha brat is clouded with hatred and revenge. And with you showing your strength, he starts feeling inferior and wants to fight you to prove who's stronger just so he can tell himself that he is strong enough to kill his brother. Though if you two do fight then he has no chance, you're stronger than him" Kurama said, Naruto in his mindscape turned to the large fox with big eyes. Kurama noticed this and furrowed his brows

"What?"

"Hehe, it's just hearing you say that I'm stronger than him makes me happy, ya know" Naruto said scratching the back of his head as Kurama closed his eyes

"I was only stating facts" he said
"Alright, if you say so" Naruto said shrugging. Back in reality, Naruto stood up then left the area.

"Where are you going?" Kurama asked
"To Tsunade obaa-chan. Gonna ask her tips on Medical Ninjutsu. Just a few" Naruto said as he jumped up a building and went rook to roof until he reaches the Hokage tower.

-At night-

Sasuke stayed to where Kakashi talked to him and thought about Sakura and Naruto, but then Itachi came to mind. He cursed as he didn't know what to do, until four Shinobi made their appearance before Sasuke. They introduced themselves as the Sound Ninja Four. They then charged at Sasuke but he was able to counter each of their blows, just when he thought he got them, he only saw four logs then turned behind him to see the ninjas unscathed. They then continued to fight.

In the end, Sasuke couldn't beat them, as he was held upside down by his ankle he was told that he won't get any stronger if he stays in the village, and so they invited him to go with them mentioning that Orochimaru will be able to make him stronger. The ninja holding him then threw him at the wall, this infuriated Sasuke triggering the Curse Mark to spread to half of his body. Sasuke tried to attack but was easily hit back to the wall, he then notices that they too have Curse Marks. They started to explain that not being able to control it will slowly eat them away, he then started to calm down letting the extended marks return to the main mark. They said that in exchange of the mark they give away their freedom,
"In order to receive something one must discard something" one of them said,
"What is your objective? Are you and your comrades just gonna comfort each ofher in this lukewarn village then simply forget about Uchiha Itachi?" one asked, Sasuke widened his eyes as if he remembered what was truly his purpose in life. They told him that if he cut ties with the village then he'll be able to obtain more power.
"Don't forget your objective!" one yelled as the Sound Four left. Sasuke slowly raised his hand as a leaf landed on his palm, he then crushed it as his eyes went wild with the urge for revenge and the hunger for power slowly consumes his mind.

At that same time, Sakura talked to Naruto and told him everything about Sasuke and the Curse Mark. Naruto only nodded since he already knew about it and did his best to comfort Sakura. When they separated ways, Naruto was able to notice something
"Sakura-chan's worried about something. What could it be?" Naruto asked

"It's the Uchiha brat she's worried about" Kurama said as Naruto held his chin
"Right... but it should be fine, it's not like Sasuke is gonna do something stupid" Naruto said as Kurama only rolled his eyes.

Sasuke was at his home, packing the stuff he needs and tidying up the place. He strapped his bag to him and was heading out. Before leaving, he gave one last look at the picture of Team 7, he then slowly set the frame facing downwards and left. Hands in his pockets, he passed by the Ninja Academy and was passing the road to the main gate. Sakura came out a few meters in front of him with a sad look, she notices the bag he carries. She shed a tear, and more tears followed.

Sakura tried her best to convince him to stay, talking to him about the time he got mad at her, their moments as Team 7, confessed to him, and even said to take her with him and that she'll help him with his revenge. But despite all her efforts, it was useless. Sasuke turned to her
"You really are... annoying" he said, he then returned to continue his way out the village when Sakura yelled
"Don't go!" she ran towards him desperate to do anything to make him stay
"If you go I'll scream and...!" before she could finish her sentence, Sasuke went behind her and quietly said
"Sakura... thank you" Sakura gasped, touched by the simple words Sasuke ever said to her. Until she felt a pain on her nape, she called out his name until she lost consciousness. Sasuke carried her to a nearby stone bench and successfully went out.

He encounters the Sound Four who are all on one knee before him
"We were waiting for you Sasuke-sama" one of them said as Sasuke stopped before them
"What's with you?" he asked
"It was decided that you would be our leader once you stepped out of the village. Please forgive our rudeness up to now" one said as all four bowed in apology, Sasuke gave them a lpok for a while then walked past them
"Hn, I don't care about any of that" the Sound Four then stood up as they flanked their newly apppinted leader
"Let's go"

HOLY CRAP! I FINALLY UPDATED!!! Hello, it'e been months like ohmyg, I'm so glad I can finally update this! (Sorry if it looks rushed by the way) I did a lot of contemplating in most of the scenes here, for example, I was gonna write the whole scene of Sakura stopping Sasuke but I just summarized it in the end. Regardless, sh!ts about to get real in the next episode. Naruto and Sasuke are gonna fight and Naruto will get kidnapped by Danzo (as said in the book synopsis) damn I'm excited. There's a reason for getting Team 7 an importance in the story which you'll figure out later, in the next 2 or 3 chaps they gon gather eyy!! I hope you all enjoyed this and please do look forward to the next one.

Wifizone shutting down
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