Chapter Text
Sasuke had gone back to training everyday, yet it felt unfulfilling. Something had been bothering him about Kaguya and her White Zetsu army she had during the war. He was also starting to get restless and wanted something to do.
“Leave the village?” Kakashi asked. Sasuke told him about his desire to travel.
“Yeah, there’s something I want to look into.”
“You are a free man now so I don’t see a reason why you wouldn’t be able to. I’d have to talk about it with the higher ups just in case. Are you sure you want to leave so soon though?”
Sasuke knew he wanted to do this, which is what he told Kakashi.
“I’m not the Hokage quite yet, but I’ll talk to Lady Fifth about what we can do.”
A few days later, he was standing at the village gates, with Sakura and his former sensei.
“Well to be perfectly honest, someone like you would be imprisoned,” Kakashi told him. “That all of your past actions were pardoned and your wish granted speaked to the enormity of the help in undoing the Infinite Tsukuyomi. But also, my becoming Sixth Hokage and the wishes of Naruto, the key figurehead in ending the war helped. Don’t forget that. Try not to cause too much trouble from here on out. It’ll fall on my shoulders.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Sasuke apologized.
“Do you really insist on leaving?” Sakura asked. “The artificial hand Tsunade-sama is crafting from Hashirama cells will be ready soon.”
“I want to know how the shinobi world…how this world looks to the current me,” he assured her. “I feel like I’ll be able to see the things I’ve overlooked. Things that I can only perceive in my current state.” A new perspective. “And, there’s a matter that’s been weighing on me.”
“What if…I said I wanted to come with you?” Sakura looked down, blushing, before looking back up.
“It’s a journey of atonement too. And you have nothing to do with my crimes.”
Downtrought, Sakura gazed down again. “Nothing to do with me, huh…”
Sasuke walked closer to her, and she looked up. Sasuke poked her forehead, a gesture of affection his brother used to do for him. “I’ll see you soon,” Sasuke said to her as she began to blush. “Thank you.” Sakura always showed that she loved him, and now he was starting to show her that he felt the same way.
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Two years had passed in the blink of an eye. During his journey Sasuke was able to help free a bunch of people with kekkei genkai abilities, into the custody of Kumogakure, and solved the case of exploding humans. He helped his hometown when a meteorite was coming towards it. He helped Sakura when she had been kidnapped, although she had pretty much handled everything herself by the time he got there.
During his journey, Sasuke was able to appreciate more finer details of what surrounded him. The smell of the flowers, texture of sand, the cool ocean breeze, and the sound of birds chirping, among other things. He was already grateful for; Naruto’s friendship, Sakura’s love, and Kakashi’s teachings, but his feelings for them grew deeper as well.
He kept his communication with Konoha to a minimum. Despite this, Naruto and Sakura often wrote to him. Naruto’s letters were often about what he'd been up to. Sasuke sent a note to Sakura, to give to Naruto and Hinata to congratulate them on their marriage. Sakura’s letters always said that she missed him or was thinking about him, but was rooting for him and wished him well. He enjoyed reading these letters from his friends, despite missing them sometimes.
Before, Sasuke never could grasp why Sakura loved him so much. What was there for her to love? The more he thought about it, the more Sasuke understood that she never needed one. She simply did, and that’s all there was to it. Love doesn’t need a reason. As he received more of her letters, he started to realize how much he loved her too. How he could let his guard down with her, how persistent she could be, how much she cared about others, how she always wanted to help him, and how warm and comforting she made him feel. Sakura witnessed many of his highs and lows, but never stopped loving him. Sasuke wasn’t afraid of losing her anymore, because he knew she wasn’t going anywhere.
Sasuke’s most recent letter was from Naruto, and it brought up something interesting. The letter mentioned how Sakura said that Sasuke was helping the village from the shadows, like a one man Military Police Force. He thought back to the time in the hospital, when he told Sakura his old dream of wanting to join the police force and how they helped the village from the shadows.
Sasuke smiled to himself.
Maybe it’s time I went home
.
To Sakura.