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The way Sakura and Naruto move on the battlefield, twisting around each other – a half-word here that somehow spells a combination attack, a simple touch as they ricochet off of each other to change direction and confuse the enemy, entire conversations held among the clash of kunai and crackle of chakra – was art.
Sasuke appreciates art.
Even when it’s used against him.
“You’re coming home with us this time!” Naruto declares, spinning that stupid Rasen-shuriken in his hands. Sasuke scoffs, Raikiri already blazing in his hand. They’ll be stuck in this eternal dance for the rest of time, Sasuke thinks.
Naruto with his blazing eyes, determination, and fundamental misunderstanding of the word no.
Him with his…well, he doesn’t have much, if he’s being honest. Perhaps that is what makes him so dangerous to Konoha, a man with nothing to lose.
Just a miserable boy that inherited a legacy of grief and madness. A miserable man that never learned to put it down.
Pathetic, he has time to think – though he’s unsure if it’s about him or Naruto – before everything suddenly goes dark.
.
“You forgot about Sakura-chan, didn’t you?” It’s Kakashi’s unpleasant, unwelcome voice that he hears first as he rises back into consciousness.
(He definitely does not think about Kakashi’s voice calling him back from the ledge as a child. The grief in his face when he said all the people that I love most are dead and the way Sasuke’s heart lurched for Kakashi’s in that moment.
That his father handed down the Katōn and Kakashi handed down the Chidori and what a disgrace he had made of both of them now—)
A garbled mess comes out instead of words. His eyes are covered, his hands are bound, his feet are bound, and he’s…naked? They stripped him? A large piece of cloth is tied around his waist to hide the essentials, but the rocking of the carriage has all but rendered that sheet useless.
Kakashi sighs from somewhere to his left, “You know, Sasuke, I saw a lot of myself in you when you were younger. I’m thankful to report I seem to have grown, while you…well, you haven’t.”
“Fuck off.” He manages to spit out. The cuffs are chakra-suppressing, seemingly chained to something on a wall because moving his arms at all is causing severe pain in both of his shoulders.
“How?” Kakashi continues, as if he hadn’t spoken at all. “I’m so glad you asked. You see, Sasuke, there’s a very important lesson that Team Seven had to learn when you began your meteoric rise through the Bingo book as a traitor.”
Sasuke jerks as he feels Kakashi shift to lean in close.
“If you want to win against us, you should never forget about Sakura.”
.
Turns out, she put him down with a single finger. Which would be humiliating enough, except Naruto saw it happen, so he’s sure the whole village will know before they even cross the gates.
He’s managed to sit up in the carriage and wiggle just enough to cover himself with the sheet again when he hears the doors open. Expecting a jeering, furious crowd armed with rotten food, he’s pleasantly surprised to find nothing but silence waiting. His eyes are still covered; the only clue is that he can hear the rustling of clothing just before something heavy lands with a dull thud on his lap.
“Please stop stripping captives, sensei.” Sakura’s tired voice reopens every wound from his battle. He’s bleeding, he’s sure of it.
Kakashi hums, “Ah, but Sakura-chan, thanks to my years in the field, I’ve discovered that stripping prisoners acts as a significant deterrent from escape, as few men are as brave when they’re naked.”
Sasuke could kill Kakashi. Could literally kill Kakashi and it would be all the sweeter knowing that the bastard stripped him for fun.
“Didn’t stop you during our Ame mission.” Sakura teases.
“I’m a braver man than most.” Kakashi preens.
There’s that laugh. That sugary giggle sticking to the back of his brain even in the middle of Oto – a plague he couldn’t escape. He can hear her step forward, the undeniable collision of bodies.
“Seriously,” her voice is muffled against Kakashi, “stop stripping them. What would you have done if we didn’t take him directly to T&I? Civilians would have eaten him alive.”
Kakashi’s silence speaks for itself.
“I’m sorry, Sakura.” He says, finally. It’s not for the clothing, but Sasuke doesn’t know what it means.
Sakura’s laugh is wet, “Me too, Kakashi.”
Almost all of it is a blur, after that. Someone that isn’t Sakura or Kakashi manhandles him into clothing and shuffles him through an endless series of turns, delving deeper and deeper into the bowels of Konoha’s infamous T&I. He resents that they strap him to a chair once they arrive at a room colder than any other part of the building; he’s already wearing chakra cuffs and blinded, they’ve stripped him again and removed any weapons he might have had. It wouldn’t be fair to say he was ‘helpless’ but he’s damn near close. Which only pisses him off the more he thinks about it.
By the time the door opens again, he’s practically frothing at the mouth.
“Uchiha,” a voice he knows but cannot recognize, “welcome back.”
Stiff silence will be his only leverage, he thinks. Nothing they do could match Oto, anyway.
She sighs, softly. “Still so stubborn. Ōkami-san, if you could prepare to remove the blindfold.”
“Hai, Yamanaka-san.” He knows that voice too. Wait – Yamanaka? Ino?
That simpering, blonde princess is T&I now?
She clearly hasn’t gotten much smarter since their genin days; he vividly recalls Nara being the only member of Team Ten with any kind of intelligence. Frankly, as far as he was concerned, Nara was the only one fit to be a ninja at all – even lazy as he was, there was value in that kind of intellect. The kind that only came once a generation. Something nasty crawls up his throat about how she probably only got this position because she’s an heiress.
(You used to be an heir, the same nasty voice reminds him.)
He swallows it.
“On my count, Ōkami-san.” She murmurs. The fact of the matter is that the chakra cuffs will limit his Sharingan, but certainly can’t stop him from activating a strong enough genjutsu to make her run home crying.
Three, two, one—
A sudden strike on his face sends him reeling in his seat. Another follows immediately after. Then, suddenly, it’s like he’s being pelted with rocks all over his body. After the seventeenth hit, he realizes: Hyuuga.
That motherfucker is ANBU. And he’s closing Sasuke’s tenketsu.
Once he’s satisfied with how utterly useless Sasuke’s chakra is, Hyuuga says, “His tenketsu will be closed for four hours. You can remove the blindfold now, Yamanaka-san.”
“My thanks.” Yamanaka purrs. A sharp nail catches his cheek as she rips the cloth from his eyes. Sharper lights puncture his skull, rattling everything ever so slightly until he blinks his way back into reality.
Pink lips twist into a wry smile, “You can thank Hatake-sempai for the advice about your Sharingan. Considering you’re officially the last Uchiha, we might not have known about how little chakra you need for your genjutsus.”
She’s grown up, he realizes. It shouldn’t surprise him – Naruto and Sakura both became something else in the time he’s been gone; Naruto fills his clothes the way a true shinobi should, wiry and imposing the way he was always meant to be if he’d only eat something other than ramen. If it hadn’t been for the Kyuubi, Sasuke doesn’t doubt Naruto would be almost as fat as the Akimichi, or wasted away into nothing.
Sakura has become something Sasuke is uncomfortable putting a name to. Not quite ‘beautiful’ the way most women were, but close to it. Her hair is still painfully bright, her eyes a shade of green Sasuke has yet to encounter in nature, and muscles he knows she didn’t have when he left. From crying at everything to shattering whole mountainsides and putting him down with a finger.
Growth, indeed.
Yamanaka has become the beauty everyone already knew she would be.
Sasuke recognizes something new in her eyes though; a savagery no one would have expected. She looks like she’ll eat him alive if he so much as sneezes while she’s speaking.
“Before we do this,” she starts softly, “I want you to know that I can make it pleasant. Rifling through your brain is usually very uncomfortable. But I’ve figured out a way to make it kind. Drop your consciousness into a memory and let you drift away into something sweet.”
He wonders what she would pick. The memory of his mother picking him up from the Academy on the first day. The memory of his father’s first ‘well done, son’. Itachi’s fingers against his forehead or maybe the memory of his big brother’s sword cutting through everyone he ever loved.
She smiles, “But I’m not going to.”
He scoffs.
“For you, I’ll give you the memory of your defeat.” She continues as if he’d made no sound at all. “Every detail of you falling at the hands of the woman you abandoned on a bench in the middle of the night, unprotected.”
And so, she does.
The world spins black then red then green until he’s back in the forest, with Raikiri burning his fingertips. Naruto is in front of him with cerulean eyes, saying the same bullshit he always says when they’re facing each other – the same performance he puts on. Like he can change the axis of the world with sheer determination.
Except, there are details he hadn’t gathered the first time. Naruto’s quick glance to the side, a rustle of leaves too sudden to be the wind. Sakura had taken down Jūgo with three strikes while Naruto handled Karin; the two of them barely needing a minute to deal with Suigetsu. He’d dismissed her.
Foolish little brother, Itachi’s voice. Why would you dismiss a threat?
It’s Sakura, he argues to no one. She’s not a threat!
Except.
Except.
The blush of her hair in the periphery of his vision, almost eclipsed by the glow of his Raikiri.
Look out, look out, look out, look out –
A pressure ever so gently on the back of his neck, like a kiss.
The world disappears, again.
.
“He’s not a threat.” Ino says, flicking a tendril of long hair over her shoulder.
Ibiki scoffs, “I trained you better than that.”
“A frog could train her better than that,” Tsunade rests her cheek on the tips of her fingers, “which is why I assume you’re going to clarify, Yamanaka.”
“I am, Hokage-sama.” Ino continues, smiling coyly at Ibiki, whose headache is visible. “I mean that – in the context of Konoha’s security – he’s not a threat. If he leaves, it’ll be quietly and without bloodshed.”
Tsunade leans forward, “But will he leave? I’m tired of wasting resources on him.”
Ino understands, maybe more than anyone including Team Seven, the way her Hokage feels. Sakura has always had a heart as big as her forehead and Naruto’s loyalty could practically power Suna; it makes sense that they would burn the world down for Uchiha Sasuke. Would forgive him all his many, many sins.
And Ino loves Sakura – would give her vertebrae if Sakura even implied that she could use something to throw against a window – but her boys came home from that mission bloodied and bruised; Choji, thinner than the window panes, and Shikamaru looking like the shadows he controls.
But Tsunade nearly lost seven shinobi to the terrible choices of one boy.
And Ino nearly lost her world, entire.
When it comes to Uchiha Sasuke, Ino would be thrilled to see the back of him. Set on fire.
Almost criminally, her love for Sakura means she must want the best for Sasuke, and so Ino says, “If it means killing someone he knows? No. He won’t.”
.
From outside of the Hokage’s window, Naruto looks at Sakura whose eyes are already on him.
“Association?” She asks.
Naruto grins, “I always wanted a kid. Sensei?”
Kakashi glances down at his students, “Summons take ten minutes to deliver. You’ll have fifteen to get it signed and get back.”
They salute and disappear.
.
“Will any clan assume the responsibility of Uchiha Sasuke? Bearing in mind that doing so will require regular reporting to the Hokage and an evaluation on your abilities to subdue him should he mount another escape. This work will be in tandem with ANBU Team Fū.”
One by one the clans disavow the Uchiha as an ally and refuse, knowing fully that if no one vouches for him, he will be executed, and his eyes removed.
(He’s not sure which one he resents more: that they think they have power over his life or his birthright.)
“The Hyuuga do not have the Uchiha as an ally. However, we will sponsor him if no other clan will.” The Hyuuga representative – the Head was apparently too busy to attend the most famous criminal trial in Konoha history – says.
Tsunade’s face goes tight around the eyes. The Hyuuga and Uchiha histories are as bloodied as they are long. What will Konoha think of her, turning one doujutsu over to another?
The door blows in with a hurricane of color, “The Namikaze will sponsor! Sorry, baa-chan, I had to go digging for my family’s whole ‘formal clan documentation’ and Sakura-chan said it had to be signed by the new clan head to be official, but I didn’t have a pen—”
“Naruto,” Tsunade says tiredly. “One person is not a clan.”
“Two people are.” Sakura, coming in at his heels, says quietly.
Now, Tsunade’s whole face goes tight. So does Yamanaka’s.
“Sakura-chan,” Shizune says, knuckles white. “Are you saying that you two…”
Married flits through his mind. Sends his stomach tumbling.
Naruto grins, “Technically, it’s an ‘offer of association’, but legally it’s an adoption.”
“Sakura is a ward of the Senju. Nothing outside of marriage changes that.” Tsunade says sharply, and it takes all of Sasuke’s willpower not to jerk in response. Sakura was adopted? By the Senju? By what right? Where were her parents?
Sakura being an orphan did not sit well with him.
(He curses his soft heart for caring at all and tries not to think about Sakura as Naruto’s wife, lest he lose his lunch entirely.)
Sakura smiles, “I still am, shishou. There’s an old Konoha clan law that says members of clans can be offered ‘association’ with other clans. We used to use it to protect visiting emissaries who wanted private clan protections for elongated stays. They became adopted into the clan, without any clan rights, and were hosted by that clan for the duration of their stay.”
“And so now you’re an associate for the Namikaze clan?” Yamanaka asks archly.
"She's my daughter--ow!"
Sakura scowls, "How many times do I have to tell you - I'm not your daughter! That's not what it means!"
Tsunade rubs her temples, "Can someone please tell me what hare-brained scheme you two are trying to pull?"
Naruto’s grin is pure Uzumaki, “Simple. Sakura-chan is a Senju. But she's a Namikaze now, too. Makes my clan count, technically, two. Which is enough to offer me a seat at this particular table. Even though – I’ve gotta say, baa-chan – the fact that the Uzumaki don’t qualify just because it’s not a ‘Konoha’ clan has gotta be a little xenophobic—”
“How do you even know that word?” Kiba mutters next to his sister, whose fist has hit his head before he even finishes the sentence.
“—and Sakura-chan says that I can’t combine them due to old laws but I’m thinking maybe you and Shizune can do something about that!”
Sakura hits him again, “Idiot! We said we’d talk about that after this meeting. Stop bungling the schedule!”
The look on Tsunade’s face is so fond that it makes Sasuke sick.
“Hokage-sama,” Nara interjects. “While I’m sure we’d all love to hear you explain clan law to our future idiot Hokage, is there not also a law that declares each clan have the opportunity to protest an ‘offer of association’ on the grounds of potential future favoritism?”
Tsunade folds her fingers together, “Shikamaru is right, Naruto. For you to offer a Senju official association, you must obtain permissions from the other clans. And her clan head.”
“Baa-chan, I will propose to Sakura-chan right now unless you say ‘yes’.” Naruto says blandly. The Hyuuga representative balks.
“No, you won’t.” Tsunade says.
Naruto frowns, “I definitely could, though.”
“But you won’t.”
“But I could.”
Shizune turns to their Hokage sternly, “Tsunade-sama, tell him he can’t do this! If you create an official alliance between the Senju and another Konoha clan, it will be a political nightmare. Especially if you put the Uchiha clan under their umbrella.”
“Not if the other clans agree.” Sakura says. “Let’s look at it this way: the Yamanaka, Akimichi and Nara are already allied; there is about to be a much more permanent Yamanaka-Nara union than before. The Hyuuga and Namikaze-Uzumaki are also about to be joined together – because I’m definitely not marrying Naruto (“Rude.” He says.) – and, due to the pre-existing connections, be formally linked to the Inuzuka and Aburame.
“As far as I can see, we’re already a spiderweb of connections that make any ‘favoritism’ effectively null.”
Naruto scratches his head, “Also, while I’m sure Sakura-chan is right about all that extra stuff, technically the Uchiha aren’t a clan, anymore. You said it yourself, baa-chan: one person isn’t a clan.”
The rasen-shuriken would have hurt less.
Hana frowns, “Uchiha clan or not, he’s still got the Sharingan which is of interest to everyone here. And the only reason we haven’t put him down.”
“Let’s proceed. Why? Because there are other commitments than just the Uchiha trial.” Shino interjects smoothly. “The Aburame do not protest the Senju-Namikaze association. Why? So that they can take custody of Uchiha.”
Down on down on down, each clan supports the association and renounces him again. ANBU sweep in as the clan heads step out, jerking him up by his arms and begin to cart him away.
The last thing he sees is Naruto’s beaming grin, “Welcome home, bastard!”