Sweat dripped off of Sasuke's chin and onto the ground and he huffed. A few feet a way was Naruto, flat on his back in the dirt, huffing as well. The two of them had been training for hours. Waiting for Sakura to arrive since she had to be at the hospital for a few hours because of an emergency. Once Sasuke left Sakura's home, he'd realized he forgot the flowers at his own home and mentally punched himself numerous times.

"Man I'm so tired I can't even hold my arm up." Naruto struggles to hold his arm up, but it does nothing but flop back down into the dirt. Sasuke allowed his legs to give, as he collasped onto the ground and then sat in a sitting position. He used the back of his hand to wipe more sweat off of him before he chuckled and let out a sigh.

"Sorry I'm late!" Sakura can be seen running onto the training grounds in a hurry. Once she reached A worn out Naruto and Sasuke, her facial expression changed into a more regretful one. "I missed it didn't I?"

Sasuke took in a breath and let it out slowly. "Give us a few minutes to catch our breath and we should be good to go for another round."

Naruto looked over at Sasuke helplessly only for the raven to give him a nervous, apologetic smirk. But watching Sakura smile made him happy on the inside.

Then the girl's smile fade. "Ah, I can't do that to you guys." She looks over at Naruto, who's practically sleep on the ground. "Naruto's all tired out."

Sasuke kicked at the blonde's foot only for Naruto to choke on air mid snore and glare at the raven before him.

"If I wasn't so tired, I'd kick your ass." The blonde mumbles towards him.

"I would love to see you try." Sasuke shoots back.

"Grr." Naruto growled frustrated with himself that he's out of stamina to really take Sasuke on at the moment. His eyes glanced sideways noticing Sakura standing there. A smile fell on his face. "Hey Sakura."

"Hey Naruto." She waved slightly at the boy. "Getting ready for exams I see."

"Yeah." Naurto adjusted himself so he was now sitting up. Once comfortable, he let out a sigh of relief.

Sakura sat down what looked like a picnic basket before sitting with the two teen boys and pulled her legs to her chest. "I'm sorry I missed out." She says. "I know it was a good session."

"Oh no worries." Naruto smiles once again at the girl. "Maybe next time you wont have any short notice emergencies."

"Yeah, maybe.."

Sasuke watches the girl as she and Naruto engaged in casual conversation. He admired as she actually treated him like a human, listening to what he had to say and also giving him advice on the things she felt he needed them on. Sakura's changed so much.

"–Right Sasuke."

Sasuke snaps out of his trance at the sound of his name. He looks between both Sakura and Naruto before learning that they both were waiting for him to speak.

"What?" He cocked an eyebrow to listen.

"I was telling Sakura that you should be able to use your right hand in no time!" Naruto repeats himself, hoping Sasuke would keep the same enthusiastic energy as he.

Sasuke blinked once, then twice. "I suppose that could be true."

Naruto deadpanned causing the pinkette to giggle.

"Are you guys hungry?" Sakura asked as she then reached for the picnic basket. "I bought food since I figured we'd be out here all day." She began pulling out food, ride balls and sausages she'd made herself. She also had instant ramen made for Naruto. He greatly thanked her before devouring his food. Sasuke stared at his assortments before he looked over at Sakura who had already began eating hers, and was laughing with Naruto. A warm feeling traveled over the Uchiha that was something he couldn't describe. He was greatful to be in the situation he was in. Thanks to both Naruto and Kakashi, Sasuke has a second chance at living life. Living the life his brother wanted from the start. Where he stayed in the village and did no wrong. Where he knew Sasuke would be the safest. Sasuke was given another chance to redeem himself. Prove that he wasn't the traitor everyone made him out to be. He fought hard for his village and saved the entire nation with assisting Naruto. The both of them together bought peace within the nations. If he would've never changed his mind, he wouldn't be alive; let alone able to see the outside of the confinement for the rest of his life.

As he stared at Sakura and Naruto he remembered the good times they used to have, sitting about and eating their lunches they put together just before their mission started. Naruto gobbling down instant ramen, Sakura eating food her mother made her, and Sasuke of course was eating tomatos. He remembered the smell of the spring air, how the wind blew the leaves. How long Sakura's hair was. How short it became from cutting it during the chunnin exams. He remembers her change. Her determination. She smiled differently. She looked at him differently.

"You okay Sasuke?" Sakura's voice finds it's way to Sasuke's ears, noticing he zoned out while staring at the girl. His eyes found hers and he smirked before nodding and biting into his food.

They ate, talking amongst themselves. Enjoying the company of one another as a whole. Something they've missed for so many years.

"This is so Nostalgic." Naruto says with a hum. "Now all we're missing is Old Man Kakashi."

Sakura smiled warmly as she slowly nodded. "That'd be pretty neat." She says. "Team Kakashi together as one once again after all this time."

"Ah, Pretty good innit?" Naruto grinned as he reared back on his hands. He looked towards the sky. "I wonder would we get any good missions now that we're back together."

"Well Sasuke has to become a chunin first." Sakura says. "At least then we would be able to get higher ranking missions."

"We wouldn't need higher rank if there is peace within the nations now." Sasuke finally says after a while of silence.

"Well yeah that's true," Sakura nods. "But what if there's something out there we don't know about?"

"What do you mean?" Sasuke's head shot towards Sakura, giving her his undivided attention.

"Well, what if there's something out there that we don't quite know about yet?" She says. "Like c'mon. I know you two didn't know anything about Kaguya till the moment she was being released from the seal." She paused to look between the two. She shrugged before continuing. "I'm just saying. We can't always rely on what we think is the answer. We were living peacefully untill the war started."

"Untill my parents risked their lives for the village." Naruto adds.

"Yes, of course." Sakura nods. "We may not know what it is now, but we should at least go by the book as far as rank before we can test that theory out. We all know what we're capable of, but we wouldn't want to hurt anyone's pride too much knowing they got their asses handed to them by two genin and a jounin now would we?"

Naruto snorts.

Sasuke nodded slowly taking in Sakura's words. "Maybe you're right." He says. "Maybe there is something out there. An even bigger threat than this was. I mean, Orochimaru is still alive and who knows what his plans are as far as destorying the village."

"What more could he possibly do?" Naruto asks. "He doesn't have the Sharingan."

"When has that ever stopped him?" Sakura looked over at Naruto quickly shushing him. He looked down in a deeper thought.

"Whatever it is, we should keep a close eye on him." Sauske says after a moment of silence.

They nodded in agreement.

"This is nice." Sakura says with a smile. "The three of us here."

"I just said that." Naruto says leaning back into the grass. He stared up at the clear blue sky, wondering how it could be so beautiful in a world so chaotic. He glanced over at his two best friends. Watching as one of them stared at the other. A smirk fell on his face as he thought about having that exact same look in his eyes when he realized his love was truly for Hinata and no one else.

Who's the loser now, Sasuke?

-----------

The sun was beginning to set over the horizon as Naruto and Sasuke found themselves sprawled out within the dirt of the training feilds. Naruto had found just enough energy to spar one more time, giving Sakura the training she wanted. Of course Sasuke joined, it was nice to see just how strong Sakura and Naruto had gotten in his absence. They've done it for not only themselves, but for him as well. To become much more stronger, so that they would be able to bring him safely back to the village.

"That was fun." Sakura says as she rotates her shoulder. She cracks her neck a few times, feeling freshly rejuvenated from having a good spar. Sasuke and Naruto huffs loudly.

"So sore." Naruto groans as he tries to sit up, only for him to fall back down into the dirt in a huff. "Jesus Sakura, you were trying to kill us."

"Isn't that what Kakashi-Sensei taught us?"

"Yeah, but not actually kill us, Sakura." Sasuke turned his head in the pinkette's direction, giving her a playful glare. She smirked.

"Aw, the Uchiha couldn't keep up either?" Sakura taunted with a triumphant smirk on her face. Sasuke's playful glare soon turned into a frown.

"If I really wanted to kill you Sakura, I could've."

Sakura leans over towards the Raven, closing their gap and making Naruto extremely uncomfortable about it. "Oh yeah?"

Her eyes flickered in a way Sasuke had never seen before. She was completely unreadable.

"Wanna try it again then?" Her pink eyebrows raised in a challenging manner, as if she dared Sasuke to accept her challenge. Naruto feeling a deathly shiver going down his spine.

"How is it that you're not even talking to me and I'm fearing for my life?" His eyes narrows as he gulps, staring up at the brunt orange sky.

Within an instant, Sakura's playful glare was back and she looked over at Naruto with a closed eyed smile. Sasuke was shook.

"Oh Naruto don't be silly." She says waving him off. "I would never hurt you guys intentionally."

Naruto deadpanned remembering all the times Sakura 'intentionally' clonked him upside his head as kids. "Heh, yeah; Silly me."

"How are things with you and Hinata, Naruto?" She walks over to Naruto and sits, pulling her legs to her chest and looks over at Naruto. His face slightly reddens as his mind becomes englufed in all that is the beautiful Hinata Huyga.

"Things are pretty good." He says after a breath. "I-I mean people are starting to catch on to us. Kiba called himself giving me 'the talk'."

Sakura snorts. "Are the two of you going to give whoever I end up with 'the talk' too?"

"Oh I already have- OUCH!"

Naruto glares at Sasuke who purposely kicked the blonde as he was talking. Naruto mumbles something under his breath before cutting his eyes at the raven. Sakura tilted her head.

"What was that for?" Sakura asks Sasuke.

"He talks to much about things that isn't his business." Sasuke closes his eyes as he speaks. Sakura, still being confused, decided to let the whole thing go.

"Well anyway, Naruto I'm really glad things are going good with you and Hinata." Sakura smiles as she looks down at her friend. "Overall I just really want you to be happy and I'm so happy that both you and Hinata are happy with eachother."

Naruto smiles. "Thanks Sakura."

Their conversation grew quiet. As the wind began to blow, Sakura's hair began to fly in the direction of the wind. Sasuke took in a breath, watching as the girl's skin began to glow from both the sweat and the sunset. He was amazed. He hated himself for all that he put her through. She did nothing wrong to him. Instead, all she wanted to do was love him. Love was something Sasuke couldn't really understand. The more you love someone the more they make you vulerable. The more vulnerable you are, the more likely it is for your enemies to defeat you.

But at this particular time, Sasuke didn't care. As long as Sakura smiled at him with her heart full of love only for him, was all that mattered to him. His eyes shifted away from the girl when he noticed that Naruto was watching him with a smug smirk on his face. Sasuke rolled his eyes, knowing that Naruto would have something smart to say about it later.

"Are the two of you ready to get out of here?" Sakura asked. She stood to her feet, slowly dusting off her skirt. Sasuke slightly blushing for glacing up her skirt. Naruto snorting seeing the pink tint on the raven's face.

"Yeah, let's go." Naruto pushed himself up nd reached his hand out for Sasuke to take. Sasuke took the blonde's hand allowing him to help him from the ground. They both dusted themselves off, and stepped in stride with the girl. She walked ahead of them, her hands clasped behind her, her hair hanging from the loose ponytail at the base of her neck. She hummed a tune, enjoying the nostalgic feeling she was getting, walking from the training feilds back towards the village. Back when things were great. They had eachother and their teacher. Learning what it took to be a good ninja. The best even. Who knew that the three of them would be the help everyone needed. She felt honored to be able to say that she helpped by standing shoulder to shoulder with Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha. The two who saved the world.

Sasuke pokes his bottom lip out as they continued to walk behind Sakura. His eyes shifted every which way, refusing to look at the back of Sakura. He knew if he looked her way, he'd be stuck. Which means he was likely to get caught doing so by Naruto. Or worse, Sakura herself. He cleared his throat as they walked, feeling the cool breeze rustle through his hair, brushing against his sleeve and causing it to also blow in the wind.

"What are you two gonna do now?" Sakura asked as she looked back at the two boys behind her. Naruto's eyes shifted from the ground to meet the pinkette.

"Well, Hinata was coming in from her mission today." He says slowly. "We were gonna go get some ramen. Did you guys want to come?" He looked from Sasuke to Sakura then back at Sasuke before twisting his lips into a smirk.

Sasuke took in a breath before he shrugs his shoulders. "I don't want to intrude on your date."

Naruto frowns. "It's not a date Sasuke." He says flatly in between Sakura's giggles. She paused a moment, waiting for the two young men to step in stride with her. She linked her arms in the both of theirs before smiling.

"It's definately a date, Naruto." She says. "The both of you agreed to this, no?"

A pink tint rose onto the blonde's whiskered face. "W-Well, yeah." He says.

"And the both of you haven't asked anyone to join right?" Sakura asks her next question carefully. "Up untill today I mean."

"Well no we haven't but, I wasn't really thinking about it to ask anyone if they wanted to come."

"But you weren't going to say anything about it untill Sakura asked if you were doing anything else later." Sasuke adds his two cents into the conversation, casuing Naruto to lean forward and glare at him.

"Who's side are you on here, Sasuke?"

"Mine; obviously." Sakura teases with her tongue out. "Anyway, Sasuke and I don't want to intrude."

"You two won't be intruding." Naruto rolls his eyes as they finally enter the gates of Konoha. "Trust me. Hinata would enjoy the two of you being there too."

Sakura twisted her lips together. "Well, it would be nice to catch up with Hinata." Sakura thought about it for a bit. Her head turns to Sasuke who clearly wasn't paying the conversation any mind anymore. Typical Sasuke; gives his input then leaves the conversation alone as if it wasn't even happpening in the first place. "What do you say Sasuke? Are you hungry?"

Sasuke couldn't lie and say that he wasn't, because the snack Sakura brought with her earlier went away quickly once they decided to spar with her as well. His stomach began to turn, causing a growling sound to erupt from it. Hi face flushed red watching Sakura give a close-eyed smile.

"GREAT!" She says with conviction. "I suppose everyone would want to shower and smell good, right?" She looked between the two guys. Naruto used his free hand to scratch the back of his neck as he felt himself becoming flustered.

"Well, yeah kind of." Naruto says. "She won't be here till later. We can all go our seperate ways and meet up at Itchiraku's"

Sakura nods as her arm slowly unlinks from Naruto's. "Sounds like a plan. See you in a few, Naruto!"

Naruto waves before vanishing in a flash of orange. Sakura and Sasuke continued their walk. Sasuke was silent as they continued walking. Watching the village life as they passed by. Sasuke could see himself as a child, on the shoulders of his brother, walking through these same streets. Living a happy life. His mother waiting for them to return home from a long day of Shuriken training. Their father sitting at the table with scrolls in hand, reading them as he smoked from a pipe. The smell of a home cooked meal filling their noses as Itachi would finally set a young Sasuke down.

The memories alone causing pain in his heart. It bothered him that his family had to endure such a fate. Him being the only lone survivor of his clan. If anything were to happen to him, his clan would be no more. He wished things would've been different. He wished his clan never decided on a rebellion against the village. He wished that they never put that heavy of a burden on his brother's shoulders. He'd wished that he never came home to such a slaughter when he was only five years old. He'd wished everything never happened. He wanted so badly to go home and be greeted by his mother loving smile, and his fathers stoic glare. He wished he could sit outside of their complex with his brother, sitting side by side and talking about things they were only interested in. Maybe even sparring with eachother. Itachi teaching him new things about his sharingan he never knew. Maybe even new jutsu's altogether.

"Are you alright, Sasuke?" Sakura looked over at him, seeing his eyes were hazy. She knew there were alot of things on his mind, mostly regret. She'd often try to pull Sasuke out of that stick, but it was hard when someone is so set in their own mind about themselves. He honestly believed that he was the monster everyone made not only him, but his clan out to be. They called him a traitor. Saying he was just like his brother, not even knowing that everything has a reason behind it. Sure not a soul in the village knew about all of this, which is why they said those cruel things about Itachi, but if they knew the truth, like they probably do now, everything would've happened so differently.

Sasuke side glances at the pink haired girl. Seeing her eyes filled with worry made him smile a little.

"Yeah, I'm okay." He says before looking elsewhere.

"Are you sure?" She insists. "If you have anything on your mind you want to talk about, I'm here."

"I know you are Sakura, thank you." He says. "But I assure you, I'm fine."

Sakura chose to let it go and not push any further. Once they reached her home, she unlinked her arm with Sasuke's.

"See you later?" She says with a small smile.

"Hn." A short nod goes along with that imfamous non-meaning sound Sasuke always gave.

After turning around, Sakura headed up the stairs to her home. Sasuke watched, knowing she would've gotten into her home safely, but doing it anyway just to have a reason to admire her. Once she was safely inside, He made his journey to his own resting place.

You may have won the war Sasuke, but the battle is still in progress.