Let It Burn: Life [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 1

Years. The years that seemed to pass by were almost a blur. But life in Konoha continued on, as more and more ninjas graduated from the Academy, exams were held, and students advanced in the rankings. The Village was growing and relations had expanded since the death of the Third Hokage. Even managing to regain ties with Suna. They developed a new treaty and the last three years had been peaceful, much to the relief of the nations. But that's not to say there weren't a few issues along the way. Otherwise the world wouldn't need the assistant of ninjas, but those situations were easily handled.

For one individual though he was not aware of these changes, having been absent for some time. But he stood atop one of the higher pillars in Konoha with a large grin excited about one thing,

"Nothing has changed!"

Chuckling to himself, the knucklehead glanced around only to have Hokage Mountain catch his attention.

"Feh, so they've added Tsunade's ugly old mug to the mountain, huh?"

"You've grown a lot, haven't you, Naruto?"

The Genin glanced over to find his old sensei lounging on a rooftop with an issue of Come, Come Paradise in hand.

"Sensei! You haven't changed at all!" he beamed.

The blonde leaped over with a grin.

"Oh! I have a present for you!"

The teen reached into his pouch and produced another orange cover book. Upon reading the title, Kakashi's eye widened considerably.

"W-What?" the young man stammered. "How did you get this?" His hands shook taking the item and examining it carefully to be sure it was real.

"It's the latest in the series after three years," Naruto said. "It's really boring, but you'll still like it... I think."

Below Jiraiya huffed at the fact that the teen still refused to see the beauty in his work and instead chose to insult it.

The two joined the Sannin on the road once more, the Genin moving ahead with excitement.

"Right! Next stop, straight to Ichiraku Ramen!" Naruto rushed off without even a glance back at the others.

"As promised, I'll leave Naruto back into your care," Jiraiya stated.

This caused Kakashi to look up from his book.

"I fear Akatsuki has been growing impatient... they may make an attempt on Naruto soon... I'm going to head out and gather as much information as I can. What of Mai? Has there been any contact made? You didn't include any details about her in the few reports I acquired."

"The situation has been handled," Kakashi reassured.

The older man cocked a brow, obvious to the fact that he had missed something in his three-year absence. Yet now was not the time to question such a thing out in the open. A cry of surprise caught their attention, realizing that Naruto hadn't gotten far and found one of his former teammates,

"Sakura?"

"Naruto!" she exclaimed in equal surprise.

"Well, well, look who's finally back," Tsunade smirked.

The pink-haired ninja grew a bit self-conscious and scratched the back of her head. "So, um, how do I look?"

Her outfit had changed from what she came out of the Academy with. Now she wore a sleeveless top with a similar design to the old qipao dress, alongside black shorts under a short grey apron skirt. Her footwear had changed too in order to equip her with more guards that paired with the ones on the elbow. And she now wore tipless gloves on the hands. Her hair was the same length that it had been cut during the Chuunin Exam, and the ninja had grown a few inches.