Gaara Sakura: Battle On The Summit

Chapter 18: All We Ever See Of Stars

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Once they headed towards the forest, they found that Lee and the rest of the squad were still sleeping on the ground next to each other. Naruto, Gaara, and Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle in amusement of what Sakura had done to her fellow mates.

"You were in trouble and here they were just there the whole time," the blonde-haired ninja said grinning.

"Haha..." the pink-haired kunoichi sweatdropped and gritted her teeth nervously.

"Sakura, they were trying to help-" Kakashi pointed out while he was carrying Karin on his back.

"I know. I'll apologize to them," she sighed tiredly.

"It's your fault... Sakura, was it? That Naruto's in condition in the first place," Karin recalled when she squinted her eyes at her.

The pink-haired kunoichi nodded in understanding and said softly. "Alright, alright. You can blame me all you want. But still... I thought I could handle this situation all by myself and convince Sasuke. I guess it didn't worked..."

"Sakura. Don't worry about it," the red-haired Kazekage said and patted her on the shoulder for reassurance.

"Yeah. At least, we know what we need to do. What we need to prepare ourselves in the upcoming battles. It's going to be tough out there, but as long as we fight together," Naruto stated.

The others agreed, then a few minutes later, the leaf squad had woken up and continued to walk home.

"Hmph! I'm the one who found Sasuke for you!" The red-faced ninja reasoned out in disappointment.

"Come on, Kiba... Don't be mad," Kakashi said.

"Why'd you get to have all the fun?" He continued on in annoyance. "And Sai told everything to Naruto, so now Sasuke ended up getting away."

"Kiba! Be a man and quit your bitching!" Naruto yelled out.

"You're the one who's always bitching, Naruto!!" Kiba growled out vehemently.

"Oh! You're right. For as simple and dumb as he is, he really overthinks things," he started to laugh out.

"Sai!!! You sure are laughing a lot more lately, eh?!!" The blonde-haired ninja shouted in irritation.

"Thank you," he said smiling.

"That wasn't a compliment!!" Naruto said annoyingly.

"Hahaha! That's the old Naruto we all know," Lee noted with a smile.

"Yeah. You guys really do bonding," Gaara said chuckling.

"Hm..." Sakura answered with a faltering smile and just looked down on the ground, thinking to herself without letting anyone know.

But of course, the red-haired Kazekage was glancing at her sideways and didn't bother to ask her what was on her mind.

Later on in the afternoon, the good news was spreading across the leaf village where Tsunade had revived from her coma. Everyone was happy and glad to see that she's back to normal and was still recovering from the use of her powers. She started binging down on the food that was placed on her table, whereas Shizune had informed her about the war that Madara had declared. She called for the meeting with the council to be held the next couple of hours.

Down in the main entrance, Gaara and Sakura were standing in front of each other before they were about to part their ways.

"I know these past few days has been very difficult for us and we haven't been talking like we used to..." the red-haired Kazekage mentioned softly.