When Love Knocks Unannounced (NaruSasu)

3. Back in Action

Sasuke reached the Land of Paddies - where the Sound Village was situated. This was the place that suffered due to the presence of Orochimaru & his human experiments. Sasuke looked around for the inhabitants of the rice paddy fields. He saw the fields were all dried up, the place had lost its charm.

He searched around the settlement for any locals. No one on the street. He knocked on a random door and heard some light noises from inside. Nobody answered. He went on and knocked on the second door and third. But no one would show up. He then realized villagers were hiding and luring from the crevices in the doors and windows. He finally felt the thing he was dreading -  People's suspicions and fear of him. He felt the eyes on him and that reminded him of how people used to stare at Naruto. 

Is this how you always felt Naruto? 

He looked at the ground and clenched his fist. He wanted to flee again to someplace people didn't know him.

Maybe I should just lea... But he didn't flee, instead, he called people out at the top of his voice.

Sasuke clenched his fist even tighter to fight his inner guilt and made up his mind. He loosened his fist, walked to the middle of the street, picked up his katana from his waist and his tools, and laid them on the ground. He took a few steps back &  raised his hand over his head in a gesture of surrender. 

"I am Uchiha Sasuke", he suddenly heard gasps and then just silence.  "I mean no harm to anyone. I am only here to help you recover from the effects of war and the presence of sound ninja." 

"I have been here before, most of you must know me. So I can tell the land has faced exploitation. Rest assured I have no connections to the dark forces and am only here to help. If there's anything I could help you with please speak up."

With that Sasuke's heartbeat raised and his eyes moved in all directions to see if anyone volunteered. He revolved around his feet to look in all directions. No one came out. Sasuke brought his hands down. His head lowered to the ground. he realized that atonement wouldn't come easy to him. 

He then picked up his weapons and announced one last time - "I will be visiting the sound village and its hideout. For any assistance, please find me there."

He walked down the street, and as he reached the end, he heard a cry, "Wait! Don't go there.." he saw a small girl running out of a house. " There's a monster in there, that will -", she was shut with the hand of a man covering her mouth (probably her father) and stopping her from going any further. 

Quick to analyze the situation, Sasuke noticed their shabby clothes and malnourished bodies. The land which once had an abundance of yield is stricken with famine. He also sensed the dread in their eyes. 

Sasuke's hand went to his katana. "Monster, eh? Say no more." With that, he turned and paced towards the hideout.  

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In the Hidden Leaf

Naruto was getting habitual to using his new arm. He trained regularly to perfect his taijutsu and weaving hand signs with the Hashirama cells prosthetic. Lee assisted Naruto every morning with his past experience of recovery. All his comrades & friends were extremely busy in missions - controlling the post-war effects. 

Naruto couldn't wait to be back to work. He was eager as always, but Kakashi refrained from sending Naruto on any missions until he was confident enough with his recovery. 

He was forced into studying and reading books, but being Naruto, he usually found creative ways to fool Iruka or Shikamaru into escaping the classes. He often used to climb the Mountain heads and sat on his father's impression on the rock. Other times Naruto could be seen in the hospital hovering around the pink medic, intentionally disturbing her while she's working.

"Narutooo! Go away and let me work!!", sakura screamed annoyed by Naruto's antics and literally kicked him out of the window.

"Huh! All of a sudden everyone's got super busy"

Frustrated he stomped into the Hokage's office. Sai & Shikamaru were already there. 

"Kakashi Sensei!!!", he yelled as he entered. "When are you letting me out on missions?? I have completely recovered and finished all the reading as well!"

"Oi, It's Lord Hokage, You Idiot!", Shikamaru said, "and placing your Shadow clone to turn pages, isn't reading."

Naruto completely ignored Shikamaru by giving him a squint eye.  "I have had enough of lying around. You either assign me a mission now or I am going on my own."

"What a drag!", sighed Shikamaru and left the room, to avoid any further interactions.

Kakashi dug behind a pile of papers, spoke in a straight voice, "Naruto, we had a deal that I won't send you out on B-rank missions or above unless you get promoted to Jonin. You are free to take up any missions below that-"

"Don't do this to me..." Naruto melted to the floor and started bawling crocodile tears. "I am already helping out anyone and everyone in the village, wherever I can."

"Naruto can assist me in the missions", Sai quickly suggested. Kakashi and Naruto turned to him suddenly. Naruto's eyes widened and with a grin, he started looking at him with starry eyes. "I would really appreciate a genin's assistance on my super important missions after all", Sai scoffed with a mischievous smile. 

Shikamaru lent out a laugh from another room. 

Although offended by Sai's remark, Naruto stayed silent, he would say yes to anything at this point. The thing is naruto can overpower anyone, everyone knew that. Heck, he was the strongest ninja alive. Kakashi just wanted him to have a little break after the war and get prepped to become the Hokage after him. The White scarecrow gave in to the constant nagging and agreed to let Sai take Naruto along.

"Yesss!", the fox jolted.

"Alright, Here's what you'll be doing, certain rogue ninja's have fled during the chaos of the war- ", Kakashi continued to brief about the mission to the duo. 

They both left the same night. 

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Writer's Note: 

Hey guys, thank you for reading. The story is just picking up pace, it's gonna be a long one. Sorry, it's taking time to set up the premise. It will come to an interesting part soon!!