The Return

Chapter 50

*Happy New Year Everyone! Enjoy :) *

The Demon Desert

"I don't know about this. It looks like I'm wearing formal attire." Sasuke complained, staring into the mirror at Sakura's apartment.

"Don't be silly, mom and Ino helped me to pick this out especially for you. Your old ninja gear is getting so ratty now. I just figured it was time for an upgrade. What? You don't like my Rinne Festival present?" She glanced up at him with her glistening green eyes.

How could he argue with that? "It's fine. I'll get used to it; I suppose" Sasuke commented slinging his sword across his side. At least the added cape would distract from his outfit, he thought.

Sakura didn't look convinced as she looked up at him though. He smirked and placed a hand on her head to let her know he was grateful for the thought anyway.

Together they left her apartment and headed down towards the main gates of the village. Naruto was waving wildly with Hinata by his side.

"What took you so long, dattebayo?!" he called out. "I thought you said not to be late! Don't you know what time it is?!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Shut up, loser. You're lucky I'm even doing this."

"Hey, you're the one who offered to teleport us to the Sand in the first place."

Sakura sighed and turned to Hinata. "How are we going to stand this? They aren't together for two seconds and already they're fighting."

Hinata simply chuckled. "I don't know. They always seem to have a fire in their eyes when they're like this, don't you think?"

Sakura watched as the men bickered. She smiled though, as she saw Sasuke's expression. He acted tough, but whenever he was with Naruto, he seemed to relax a bit more. She was envious in a way of their unbreakable bond.

"Come on, dattebayo! What are you waiting for? Let's just get this over with. I can't believe we have to rely on you for this."

"Fine! Watch me!" Sasuke retorted, activating his Rinnegan and Mangekyou Sharingan.

"Um, Sasuke?" Sakura interrupted, sensing that his chakra control was a bit off.

"What?!" he yelled back. His face dropped on recognizing his loss of emotional control. He glanced around, realizing he'd teleported them to the middle of the Land of Wind. There was nothing but desert for miles around and the hot sun beat down upon them.

"Now look what you did?! Where the heck did you take us?" Naruto grumbled.

"How should I know? You're the one who distracted me in the first place. You're such a loser! Couldn't you have kept quiet for two seconds! I was trying to concentrate so we wouldn't be in this fix. Now I don't even have enough chakra to get us to the village!"

"Hey, it's not my fault you got distracted. If it's that easy to get you off balance, maybe you should train harder, dattebayo!"

"Both of you, shut up!" Sakura snapped, getting between them. "We don't have time for you two to argue and bicker like two old men." She sighed placing a hand on her forehead. What was she going to do with them?

"Um, excuse me?" Hinata said. "I think I have an idea of where we are and where we need to go." Everyone looked her way, causing her face to turn bright red. "Um, it's not definitive...I mean...I don't know for certain...but doesn't this place look kind of familiar, Sakura?" she mumbled.

Looking around, Sakura did remember the terrain somewhat. "Wait...is this...this is where we took the chunin exams. Isn't it? The Demon Desert."

"That sounds sketchy" Naruto shivered. "I've been to the Sand lots of times, but I've never heard of that place."