All right real quick let me just say this is one of my longest chapters so far and tbh it's probably one of the worst chapters so far as well.
I do apologize if it seems rushed, I was working on this till almost 3 in the morning trying to finish before school so yea..
Naruto had finally made it to Konoha, instead of going to the other village where he met Tsunade, the Kyuubi had somewhat convinced him to come back to the leaf one last time. He noticed there were a slight few changes to the village.
He looked around and smelled very delicious food from the restaurant Choji always likes to go. As much as he wanted to eat he had decided to wait a little longer before he could.
He had already used the jutsu to change his hair color while also having on an ANBU mask from which he stole to go with his messy attire considering he already has a sword on his back.
He needed a hotel more than anything, it was already night but there were a few shops still opened up. Naruto needed some rest, a comfortable one too.
He notcied his appearance as well and needed some new clothes indeed, the ones he has on now are dirty, smelly, and even torn from his battle with Deidara.
As if on cue he noticed a store that had fresh clothes and he sighed in relief before he headed inside.
"Welcome, feel free to look around and let me know if you need help!" He heard a grown man say.
Naruto didn't respond and slowly walked around the store while gaining a few gazes from the people around him.
They had uncomfortable and nervous looks as they stared at him. His footsteps were heavy as he looked around the shop.
He then stopped to see a cloak, a short-sleeved cloak he thought was really cool as well and looked similar to the Fourth Hokage's cloak. Except the colors were different and there was nothing on the back of it.
The cloak mostly caught his attention because of the orange color and the black flames at the bottom and the end of the sleeves. He smiled as he admired how cool it looked.
'Kit... no.'
'I'm getting it..'
'You probably don't even have enough money for it.'
'Well I have my ways of getting things for "free" if you know what I mean.'
Naruto took the cloak and held it in his hand and stopped to notice some black shinobi pants which he also grabbed and added to it.
He grabbed them both along with a mask similar to Tobi's and puts it on the counter.
The man looked at Naruto nervously and spoke. "U- Um... is this all?" He asked.
Naruto simply nodded as the man scanned the clothes and told him the price.
"I see.."
Naruto then grabbed the clothes and tried to take them until the man put his hands on them.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Getting the clothes, baka." Naruto responded bluntly.
"You're gonna have to pay first!"
Naruto tried to grab it again but the man grabbed his wrist and kept a tight grip on it.
"Listen here you brat! Either you get out this shop or-"
The man's expression quickly changed and his eyes almost grew wide and the people in the store can see fear in his eyes.
Naruto looked up at the man, his eyes flaring red with a black lined pupil going down as he stared deep into the man's eyes. He had let Kurama take over for a bit.
"Get your damn hands off of me right now before I make one big mess in this shop. I don't like repeating myself either."
Naruto kept his gaze on the man's eyes and quietly growled as his nails grew sharp.
The man fearfully but slowly moved his hand, slightly shaking as Naruto grabbed the clothes and his eyes turned from red to black empty eyes.
The customers around looked at him a bit scared after what they just witnessed and watched as he left the store with his clothes and mask with a smile on his face.
'Wasn't necessary to say all of that Kurama..'
'People in this world have to learn some way kit.'
Sasuke's POV
Sasuke and Hinata had been walking for almost 3 hours straight, without any rest. The two of them walked in a complete peaceful yet awkward silence as they tried to reach their destination. The shy Hyuuga was tired but tried not to show it and tried to keep her heavy breathing quiet.
Sasuke noticed that they had been walking for quite some time because of the sun going down, but he still had plenty of energy left. However he was more focused on his destination instead of his comrade.
When he turned back around he noticed how tired she was, mostly because of how far behind she was from him and he could see little droplets of sweat going down her forehead.
"Hinata, lets take a break here.." He tells her and she quickly averts her eyes to him.
"N- No... S- Sasuke-kun... I can k- keep-"
Before she could even finish she suddenly felt her legs getting weak and her eyes closed for a second. Before her legs even hit the floor she felt a hands on both sides of her torso.
Her eyes opened to see Sasuke standing there with the same expression, of course. She tried to stand but her energy, in this hot weather, was extremely low.
"Guess there's no other option..." Sasuke said to himself before doing something unexpected.
Before Hinata could even say anything she felt herself being lifted off the ground. She almost yelped in surprise before realizing Sasuke was giving her a piggyback ride.
"Get all the rest you need, this is the only way we'll get to Orochimaru fast." He said looking into her eyes in which she quickly turned away.
She wrapped her arms around his neck before she blushed deeply from this unexpected move from the Uchiha.
Sasuke didn't pay any attention to it though and walked towards the direction of the waterfall, ignoring Hinata's blushing face.
Hinata's face was red for almost five minutes before she closed her eyes and rested her head on Sasuke's shoulder.
She might've been pretty heavy to anyone but not much to Sasuke. To him it's like he was picking up a puppy.
He listened to Hinata's soft rhythmic snores for almost 40 minutes that it sounded so calming to him. On top of that birds were chirping as the wind blew and he'd feel the breeze against his face as he followed the path to Orochimaru's hideout.
Time Skip To The Next Day
Before Sasuke knew it they were in a deserted area. He looked all around but its like there was nothing off in the distance.
He then heard Hinata's soft groan and she began to wake up. She rubbed her eyes a bit before opening them slowly and looked around a bit confused.
"S- Sasuke-kun.. w- where..?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out."
Sasuke took the same route he did when him and Naruto had battle, he memorized it all but once he passed the valley he just hoped that he would get somewhere.
"So you've finally decided to join me Sasuke." They heard a voice say and Sasuke, still holding Hinata, turned around to see Orochimaru standing there.
Hinata shrieked a bit and got off of Sasuke's back and got in a fighting stance but he puts his hand in front of her. The Uchiha wasn't even let alone surprised and kinda expected it.
"I didn't come here to join you, but I didn't come to fight you either." He said.
"Then what brings you here then? Seems like you and your girlfriend have a mission to find my hideout."
Sasuke ignored Orochimaru calling Hinata his girlfriend and continues with his reasoning. "We're here to recruit you, to bring you back to the leaf, not as a prisoner but a comrade."
The snake sannin shook his head and slightly chuckled. "I'm guessing Princess Tsunade sent you here?"
"Not even, I came here on my own free will even when she tried to stop me." Sasuke responded.
Orochimaru knew that the Leaf would never want him back, especially after killing their previous Hokage but he wondered why out of all of them, Sasuke would want him back.
On the other hand he's the only one who knows Naruto is alive so he could easily tell Sasuke right here but he kept quiet, still not trusting his words.
"What makes you think I'll just be welcomed back to the village? After all I killed Lord Third and had fought Tsunade and Jiraiya four years ago." He said.
"You're right, you won't be welcomed with open arms... but you won't be welcomed so roughly, if the Fifth Hokage is okay with it." Sasuke said as he stood in front of Hinata.
"And if I don't come back?"
Sasuke then flared his sharingan and puts his hand on the handle of his sword. "Then I'll take you by force. You and Kabuto both." He told him as Hinata got in a fighting stance once more without Sasuke stopping her.
"Thought you said you didn't come here to fight." Orochimaru pointed out.
"I will if necessary."
Orochimaru learned of Sasuke's moves back at the Forest Of Death but he was quite curious about Hinata considering she is apart of the Hyuuga clan.
The Snake Sannin stared deeply into Sasuke's sharingan. "You handled yourself pretty well during the Chunnin Exams Sasuke. But why worry about me so much?"
"We already took down one Akatsuki member but barely. Now another one has died but by the hands of someone else. And just recently we lost a very good man to two members of the Akatsuki." Sasuke responded. "Your help would be greatly appreciated, and if the Leaf isn't ready to accept you then... I am."
Orochimaru's smile had faded away as he looked at the Uchiha. Sasuke was willing to join Orochimaru to help get revenge on his brother but now here he is, convincing Orochimaru to join. How the tables have turned, he questioned if this is the same Sasuke from the Forest.
"I'll go." The snake sannin said. "On ONE condition."
"Hn." Was all Sasuke responded with as he raised a brow and looked at him curiously.
"You will be trained by me and me only. Not any of the Leaf's sensei's, I promised you that you would get stronger because of me if you want to defeat the Akatsuki and get revenge on Itachi." Orochimaru said and Hinata looked up at Sasuke worriedly.
"Sasuke-kun, y- you're not r- really considering this r- right?" She asked.
"You have a deal Orochimaru." Sasuke responded.
"Sasuke-kun-"
"It's all right Hinata. After all it would only be fair, and if we need to defeat the Akatsuki we could use all the strength we can manage." Sasuke responded.
Orochimaru then did a summoning justu and had summoned four average sized purple snakes. He had given all four a message to specific people and where to meet him.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked.
"You thought Kabuto was the only person I worked with? I have three more people who can prove useful." He says as he sent the snakes to deliver the messages. They slithered away very quick.
A few seconds later Sasuke noticed a hawk in the sky, coming their direction. He held out his arm and the hawk landed on it and he noticed rolled up paper on the side of its claws.
He took out the paper and the Hawk flew away as he opened it up. From the handwriting he could easily tell that it's fron Lady Tsunade.
He stood there a bit surprised which Hinata noticed. "S- Sasuke-kun.. w- what is it?" She asked.
"Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino had left the village last night to go find the two Akatsuki members who had killed Asuma. Kakashi-sensei is with them as well... he gave Tsunade the exact location of where they are." He said as he crumbled up the paper.
Before Sasuke could head the direction they needed to go he gave one last look at Orochimaru. Still a bit untrustworthy.
"Lead the way Sasuke.." He told him.
"Let's go everyone.." He said and they all began running, Hinata and Orochimaru both following Sasuke.
Naruto's POV
Naruto had on his new outfit and mask on as he walked around the village. He once again smelled some delicious food but not from the restaurant but from a ramen stand.
He read the shop's name. Ichiraku Ramen, man it had been so long since he's seen that name. He remembered back in his academy days when he had so much love for the ramen and the only people who had showed him love back was the old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame.
If he was still apart of the leaf he would've probably been having a huge smile on his face as he walked towards the ramen stand in excitement, but now he stood in front of the shop like its just any regular food stand.
'Would hurt to have a bite.' He thought as he walked in and saw the old man and his daughter there.
"Hello there-"
"Come on in!!" The old man yelled which instantly wanted to make Naruto cover his ears.
"Yeah.." Was all he could respond with as he sat down.
"What would you like?" He heard Ayame ask cheerfully. She still hasn't changed, thats good.
"What would you prefer?" Naruto asked.
"Hm... well if you want, for starters you could try regular ramen and then work your way up." Ayame said.
"Well I guess I would like an Extra-large miso with pork cutlets. And a Naruto fishcake." He said, his tone of voice not having any emotion in it which almost freaked them out.
"Heh.." She chuckled softly as she turned his back. "Sorry, you just reminded us of someone from four years ago who would have the same thing. He was one of the most charming kids ever." She said as they prepared the ramen and Naruto sat there just waiting.
A few minutes pass and they serve it, it smelled wonderful and was still hot like it used to be.
Naruto grabbed chopsticks and dug right in. He lifted his mask a bit to where only his mouth was showing as he took a bite into the ramen.
The moment the ramen touched his tongue he was instantly hit with so many memories back then.
He missed the taste of ramen so much, he couldn't help but take another bite into it. He slurped down every bite he took as tears were forming in his eyes.
Sometimes he wished it didn't have to come down to this, but now it's like there's nothing he can do at this point.
He finished his meal in less than three minutes as he wiped the tears from his eyes. He put his mask back down again before speaking into his dark tone of voice again. "Arigato for the ramen.."
He gave them both the money for the ramen before bowing. "See you later Ayame." He said as he walked out.
"Huh? He knew my name?" She shrugged it off and continued doing her job.
Naruto left before he saw Tsunade standing across from him with ANBU around her. "Team Asuma and Kakashi have already found the Akatsuki who killed Asuma. Shikamaru plans on killing them and I already sent Sasuke a message about where to meet them." She said.
"I want you two to get there as well. They're around the sand village I believe find them and help them. I want those two Akatsuki bastards dead!"
"Hai!" The two ANBU members said and Naruto balled up his fists.
'Kurama! Wake the hell up!' Naruto yelled mentally.
'Hey! No need to yell, what is wrong with you?!'
'I found out where Kakuzu and Hidan are, build up chakra right now. It seems like Shikamaru and his team are fighting right now.'
'Let them handle it then.'
'No! I already told you that if anyone is killing those bastards it's going to be ME!'
Naruto then ran out of the leaf village in a hurry, he had so much rage built up in him again that he smiled along the way about how he could kill Kakuzu and Hidan.
Things were going the way he wanted them to and he was grateful for it. First Deidara and now he gets a two for 1. This was definitely going to be fun for him.