𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑. ❪ 𝗌𝖺𝗌𝗎𝗄𝖾.𝗎 ❫

thirty

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Promises Are Kept

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Naruto can feel his anger coursing through his veins.

He stares dead in Sasuke's dark gaze. Naruto begins to speak, "You decided to come back home. What changed your mind?" He wondered with a firm expression. The squad and Hanare can feel the tension between them is heavy.

Sasuke sighs, "Let's go somewhere quiet. And also, you have to understand my words before you start throwing fists at me." He reminds Naruto and everyone else because he does want to stay in one piece, and there will be sensitive topics along the way. Naruto responded with a huff, "All right, then. I hope there won't be any lies coming from you." He does want to trust Sasuke, but the change of persona is skeptical. The Uchiha spoke once more, "They're all going to be truths." He proclaimed.

It took a short minute for the people to build that trust with Sasuke. Kakashi then says, "Take us wherever you desire." He accepts it. The man thought it was best to give his student a chance. Then, Sasuke takes everyone to the place where their journey first started.

The training ground.

As they reached the nostalgic area, Sasuke turned himself around to face his comrades. He lands his eyes on Misa, who is standing next to Naruto. She puts on a smile and nods her head. She is encouraging him. Misa knew it was not her place to intervene in the conversation because she wanted Sasuke to tell them everything. However, she does feel a bit guilty for keeping it closed doors.

"Let me go back to the beginning." Sasuke expounded on the redemption of Orochimaru and Itachi to what the shinobi world needs to expect for the future.

Sasuke even mentioned Jiraiya.

The reaction that he got from Naruto was bewilderment. His master is willing to fight against the most vigorous enemies all by himself. At first, he thought it wasn't real. So, he asked Kakashi about it. Surprisingly, Kakashi confirmed that he knew. Naruto felt so crushed.

Misa saw the dejection coming from her friend. She held his hand in a tight grip. Naruto lifted his head to meet her comforting eyes. "I've talked to him, and he sounded so brave. Jiraiya-sama will do everything he can to stop them from entering our village." She squeezed his hand. Naruto doesn't how to react. He stayed silent, which Misa understood because it was overwhelming.

"So, what are they doing now? As in Orochimaru and your onii-san." Sakura questions Sasuke. He replies to the pink-haired kunoichi, "Itachi is with my recruited squad. I haven't had any updates from them, but I do know they are in Konoha. For Orochimaru, no clue either. All he did was not to claim me as his vessel and helped me get where I am at now." The boy hopes they are in a safe environment. Especially his brother and Hebi.

"You threw out your jealousy, revenge, and betrayal so you can earn our forgiveness." Sakura figured this was Sasuke's purpose for his return. The raven adds another reason. "I know I can't restart everything because we have to keep moving forward. But I want to be much more reliable than viewed as a rogue." He sums up the true motive, and it had them speechless.

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura are starting to see the Sasuke that they know and love.

Soon enough, all eyes are drawn to Misa as she walks over to him. She faces the group, "It seems like the right time for me to come in on this. I should've told you all beforehand, but I didn't want to sound like a fool." Misa confessed and saw their faces turned into pity. She even announced that Itachi and Nanami knew about it as well. And tell the group about their relationship.