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What Matters Most	By : SmilesforSai Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Naruto/Sakura Views: 6401 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am not making a profit from the creation of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-What Matters Most
- 2-Show Me Yours!
- 1
- 2
What Matters Most
Chapter One: Return
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A/N: I know I'm going to be asked, so I'll just include it in my notes. It will be further explained within the next few chapters of the story. Naruto and Sakura are both returning to Konoha after a four-year leave. Naruto and Jiraiya left a few months before Sakura and Tsunade because they had to deal with the council and find a temporary replacement.
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"Well…this is it.”

Haruno Sakura was finally home.

“Whaaat? Doesn’t look any different…” came another feminine voice, underlined with clear disdain. Behind the young kunoichi, leaning against the trunk of an aged, leafy oak tree was Konoha’s own legendary Sannin turned Hokage. Sakura tossed a short-lived smirk over her shoulder at the blond woman, only to see that her head was bent down, and her amber-colored eyes were closed. Shifting her attention back to the endless expanse of sky and the bustling town below, the eighteen year old medic nin heaved a weary sigh.

She clapped a hand over her forehead at the next words that came from her sensei’s mouth.
“Let’s go, already Sakura! I need a drink.”
The pinkette merely shook her head in what she told herself by now should not have been disbelief, as she kicked off the ledge and raced down the hill with Tsunade following close behind her.
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Nearing the entrance to the village, the trees began to part and the buildings began to tower above them from the shortened distance. The tall green gates stood bold and proud, just as Sakura clearly remembered them the day before they’d taken their four year leave. As much as she wanted to dwell on the memory, however, the returning Hokage and her student paused only for a moment to reminisce.

A certain pair of familiar looking shinobi guards stumbled into attention at the sight of the two, acknowledging them with a quick nod as they passed through the gates. Sakura cupped a hand over the side of her mouth to call out their names, waving an arm around in their direction, while Tsunade only gave a subtle nod in return, continuing to look ahead.

A mock frown of disappointment traced down on the kunoichi’s face, before she realized where here shishou’s thoughts may be. After all, they weren’t the only ones expected to be returning to Konoha this year.

Acclaiming a rather familiar pose and a small grin, Sakura folded her arms behind her head and lifted her vibrant green eyes to the sky. The day star shined down on her, its warm glow radiating on her skin while a comfortable breeze played in her shoulder-length rosey tresses.
She wondered momentarily if Naruto and Jiraiya had beaten them back to Konoha.
“Come on, slow poke!” Tsunade’s voice startled the young woman right out of her thoughts. By the sound of it, her shishou’s patience was waning by the minute. Knowing how dangerous it was to be in the company of an alcohol-deprived Tsunade, the pinkette kicked off at full speed, bounding right past the woman with a tell-tale smirk.

"I’m gonna go ahead, Shishou!”

Tsunade’s mouth fell open, but Sakura had only a half of a second to realize it wasn’t to bark out a snarky reply. Quickly, she whipped her head back around to see what had startled her sensei so, but was instead met with a force that sent her flying backward. With a surprised cry, the kunoichi landed on her butt a few feet away from where she originally stood, rubbing her forehead and willing away the stars of confusion that were now circling around her head. It only took a moment for the little shops around the area to stop leaning on each other, and the ground beneath her to appear level again.

Tsunade’s footsteps halted a foot or two in front of her. Sakura blinked her eyes rapidly a few times, until the two pairs of sandaled feet on the ground before her became clear in her vision.

“Well, I suppose that’s one way to put that forehead of yours to use.”

“Sakura-chan—Ero-Sennin!”

The two familiar voices came at Sakura from seemingly both sides, though she knew that their owners were only a few feet in front of her. The second voice was shortly followed by a muffled chuckle in response to the first, but Sakura barely heard it over the deafening sound of a large collision, as her fist firmly connected with her insulter’s abdomen. The white-haired sage flew back a few meters, before his back hit the wall of a building across the street. Clapping the non-existent dust from her fingerless-gloved hands, the pinkette turned sharply on her heel to meet the eyes of the rude sennin’s apprentice; his wide, blue eyes.

“Naruto!”

“What?” the blond took a countering step back, as Sakura took one dangerous step forward. She bent the upper half of her body forward as well, eyeing her seventeen year old team mate with steely green eyes. The wind picked up a stray amount of fallen summer leaves between them, carrying them away on the breeze. Her attention momentarily lost as they lazily danced away, Naruto was unprepared when a hard fist abruptly slammed down on the top of his head.

“Wh-AHHH! Sakura, that really hurts, you know?”

“I heard you laughing,” the pinkette sniffed, before placing a hand atop the teen’s moppy mess of disheveled blond hair. His eyes squeezed shut and rolled back in his head as a delayed tremor of pain wrecked through his skull. Moments later, the cooling sensation of healing chakra tingled through his body; an implied forgiveness and a sign that Sakura had begun to heal the lump beginning to form on the top of his head.

Naruto sighed in near relief, feeling the pain already starting to fade. Being beat up on by fist-wielding kunoichi used to mean that you’d have to tough it out until it healed on its own. Taking the whooping and then getting patched up all in the same moment seemed kind of silly to him, but hey, at least it seemed to soften the blow.

“Geez, Tsunade. That girl packs a punch that nearly rivals your own! What else have you been teaching her?” came Jiraiya’s voice from a distance. He was now making his way back in their direction, dusting debris from his robes with a combination of disdain and approval etched onto his aging face. The impatient tapping of a heeled sandal caused both Sakura and Naruto to look to their left and up.

A dark scowl marred the forever-young features of the female sennin, her ruby lips twisted into a pout. Well, she was at a considerable distance, at least…he figured he would try his luck.

“Anyway, welcome back Tsunade! I’m sure the village has missed you something terrible…”

Tsunade’s mouth twitched and she crossed her arms under her bountiful chest. If the godaime Hokage had heard the small remark from her former team mate and close friend, she didn’t let on. Sakura sighed warily, feeling the waves of impatience practically radiating off the woman in question. Having finished healing the bump on Naruto’s head, she patted the top of it once, subtling signaling for his cooperation.

“Ah, Shishou. Naruto and I are going to go grab some ramen down at Ichiraku’s. H-have fun! I mean, I’ll see you later,” the pinkette quickly stumbled over her sentence in order to correct her unwise choice of words. Naruto, clearly lost on all conflict at the mention of ramen, was already pulling out his frog wallet and checking on the money inside.

“Yeah, that’s plenty enough for ramen! Hey, Sakura, if you want—“

“Yeah, sounds great,” the pinkette agreed hastily, not really concerned with who would get stuck with the bill at the end of their meal. Grabbing onto Naruto’s wrist, she began a practical sprint away from the two sennin and up the street to the village’s square.

Konoha hadn’t seemed to change much.

Sakura was almost a little disappointed to see it in nearly the same condition as she’d left it in. Walking through the lively streets with her old friend at her side, she was also a little shocked to find that no one seemed to notice their return. She didn’t mind too much though, she decided while pulling back the curtain flap and settling onto a stool inside the small ramen shop. Naruto hopped hastily onto a seat beside her, calling out to the shop owner, as there was currently no one waiting behind the counter.

A small smile pulled at the corners of Sakura’s lips, nearly elated at the idea of being back in the comfort of her home. With Naruto here, it could have been any old day that she was out to lunch, enjoying a nice bowl of ramen. She could have been younger, and having the same thoughts about whether or not Naruto could really managed to wolf down the five bowls of ramen he had ordered himself, or if the sight of such a thing would be crazy, fascinating, or both.

And then Sasuke, he would definitely—

She didn’t want to finish that thought…

“Still quite the appetite, I see!” Teuchi laughed heartily after receiving Naruto’s order. He probably already knew what he was going to order, and the young man did not disappoint. Drumming her fingers on the edge of the bar contemplatively, the kunoichi had not noticed the older man had turned to her until Naruto suddenly cleared his throat.

“Huh?” Sakura turned a little too casually in her seat, trying to come off as a bit more dazed, rather than profoundly confused. Teuchi arched an eyebrow at her, and she nearly sank below the bar with embarrassment; she wasn’t aware until then that he’d been waiting patiently for her to order.

“Ah, I’ll have lemon tea with miso ramen,” she replied, leaning forward and folding her hands together on the counter. The man’s expression softened as he scribbled down her order, tore the scrap of paper from his small tablet and turned his back on the two shinobi to begin cooking their meals.

Kicking herself mentally for her lack of attentiveness, Sakura let out a small sigh that blew the pink flyaway strands of hair away from her face. Today wasn’t a particularly hot day, but the slight humidity in the hair was enough to do a number on her hair. It wasn’t as though it really mattered how it looked while she was out and about traveling the world, but now that she was back home she feared the idea of walking out in public, and having one of her friends catching her with her hair looking like a pink bird’s nest.

The kunoichi elicited a un-lady like snort, entertaining the idea of running into any of the old rookie nine. What would they look like now? Would she appear to look different to them? The latter was unlikely, as she couldn’t really see much of a change in her physical appearance in the last four years. Not to say that there weren’t the small things, though. The heat of many summers spent on traveling and training had splashed a few more freckles onto her skin. Some of them dusted across her nose, while a few others were sprinkled faintly on the apples of her cheeks. For as long as she thought she could get away with it, Sakura had avoided the sun like the plague, in fear that she would be returning to Konoha covered from head to toe with the damn things.

As it would have it though, she’d managed to get away with a few minor burns, and a minimal amount of sun kisses. Sakura decided she didn’t mind that much. Besides, Naruto didn’t really seem to notice.

Speaking of her goofy team mate, he was awfully quiet over there! Shifting in her chair and propping her elbow up on the bar, the pinkette tilted her head to the side and rested her cheek in her open palm. The blond appeared to be staring down unseeingly at the menu in his hands, or maybe he was even reading it. She wasn’t exactly sure what kind of behavior she was expecting from him, but to put it simply, he was kind of acting…normal.

Well, this wasn’t right.

The Naruto she knew would be goofing abandon right now, possibly shoving chopsticks so far up his nose, that she’d start to worry whether or not they’d punctured his brain, while crying out, “Walrus!”

Frowning slightly, the kunoichi then realized she wasn’t sure she was pleased with her friend’s display of new found maturity. While it was certainly something her younger self would have greatly appreciated, she found his silent, well-collected demeanor a little stiff and unnerving. That is why she was thankful for the next sound that came, interrupting the quiet. Even more grateful, that it was the voice of the boy in question.

“Hey, Sakura,” Naruto looked up from his menu. Sakura stared back owlishly, waiting for him to say something more. “Can I have your chopsticks?

“Um…I guess…” she replied, picking up the wooden utensils from the counter and handing them over uncertainly. Naruto snapped them apart and studied them for a minute, seemingly unaware that the girl was still observing him. He then turned his back on her, his face momentarily hidden from her line of sight. Arching a pink eyebrow, the kunoichi slowly began to lean a bit closer…

“Hey, Naruto, what do you need those for any—?”

Naruto abruptly turned around then, the pair of chopsticks hanging from both of his nostrils.

“Walrus!”

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“So, it would seem that you made it back without any trouble,” Jiraiya leaned back in his side of the booth and folded his arms behind his head. Across from him, sat a heavily intoxicated, pink-cheeked Tsunade. After their confrontation near the entrance of the village, the sage hadn’t taken more than a second to realize the cure for his friend’s grouchy demeanor. He had easily talked her into going over to one of the local high quality bars for a drink and some light conversation, to which she had a hard time refusing. About four drinks later, Tsunade was looking content as one could be.

Then again, drinking was her passion; Jiraiya knew this especially well.

“We made it back alright,” the twin-tailed blond confirmed, lazily tapping her cherry-red nails on the edge of the table. “We had a little trouble upon our arrival to Lighting, though. Our war alliance has been inactive since the second time it was reinstated, and we don’t usually send any of our ninja out that way.”

Jiraiya nodded solemnly, tilting his half empty glass and swishing the amber contents around slightly. He downed it in one swig, before setting it down firmly with a refreshing sigh. He wasn’t a hardcore drinker like the woman sitting in front of him, but hell if he didn’t like a little sake himself now and then.

“I can imagine they were probably prepared to hear something important, especially with a Kage from another village traveling so far away from home.”

Tsunade shrugged one shoulder, the green robe sliding down just a little before she realized it was slipping, and pulled it back up. “I filled them in on the situation and told them that Sakura and I were just there for a visit. I figured while we were there though, it wouldn’t hurt to speak to the Raikage and make sure our countries’ friendship is still intact.”

“And it was,” Jiraiya said, making it more of a statement, rather than posing a question. The godaime nodded her head in response, but her eyes appeared to be glazed over with faraway thoughts. Uncertainly, the sage studied her with growing curiosity until her youthful hand twitched towards her glass, just as a waiter had begun to walk by. Before she could grab his attention, however, Jiraiya had stealthily snatched it from her light and unsuspecting grasp.

Tsunade scrunched up her face and slumped back in her seat with a dejected groan.

“Jiraiya…”

"You’ve had enough now.” Anymore than that, and she’d be druk as a skunk. Jiraiya needed her to be somewhat self-aware in order to grasp the severity of what he had planned on relaying to her. His intention had been to have a more serious conversation at the moment of their reunion, but a cranky Tsunade is a stubborn Tsunade. Not to mention relaying unpleasant news to either one of her foul moods might as well be like telling her she was leaning too far over her desk, and you could clearly see a good portion of her cleavage; kind of in the way he could now.
“Listen,” the toad sage lowered his voice, all sense of his tasteful humor fading from it. The sudden change in his demeanor caused the woman to sit herself upright, sobering a little at the severity in his tone. Her amber eyes hardened as she trained herself to listen to his next words.

“A couple weeks ago, I stopped with Naruto on the outskirts of a border town in Rain. Naturally, the kid made a fuss over the weather, so I let him run off to keep him out of my hair.”

Tsunade said nothing in response to this, and so Jiraiya continued. “I spoke to a resident who ran one of the local bars. My usual source of intel was supposed to meet me for a briefing the next day in a secluded part of Rain, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to pry a little, and see what sort of casual gossip I could learn from the locals.”

“Casual gossip,” the Godaime repeated, her brow pinching together in thought. “At a local bar? Enlighten me, Jiraiya. I’m not understanding what sort of useful information one could walk away with, here.”

Jiraiya simply shrugged. “Hey, there was no gain or loss in the matter, as far as I can tell. Besides, what other way to soften the atmosphere in a bar full of glary-eyed drunks, than to start up a healthy conversation?”

The blond appeared to be lost by the end of that explanation, and could only offer a small grunt in reply. Jiraiya sighed; he really hoped he wouldn’t have to escort her home in a state like that, but…

“Anyway, turns out the residents of the border town are a lot more open and talkative, as opposed to the central part of Rain. From what I gathered, most of the villagers there have never personally met their current leader, let alone see what the guy looks like.”

Tsunade visibly paled, but Jiraiya pressed on.
“And if you think that’s anything suspicious…I went into Hidden Rain with Naruto the following day. We entered under a henge due to both border patrol, and the village’s tight surveillance. There, I met my intel source.”

“You mean…” the medic Sannin’s eyes darkened and her hand clenched around the middle of her empty glass.

Jiraiya nodded. “That’s right. Itachi Uchiha.”

The legendary Uchiha had been made his life line of information regarding the ruthless organization that he’d been masquerading under, for so many years. Meeting Itachi on a number of occasions during his world travels had been routine for Jiraiya, but the meaning behind their recurring encounters was never mentioned, and never exploited.

“Our meeting was brief, just as the last few had been. I never really questioned his deeper, ulterior motives, but I trusted him enough to know that the information that was given to me was legitimate…”
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Hidden Rain

“And you’re sure about this?” thunder rumbled in the distance, resounding closer and echoing down the narrow alleyway of one of the vacant, rain-darkened roads. Two obscured figures leaned against opposite walls of the weathered crevice, their shadowed forms contrasting eerily against the gloomy grey hue of partially stolen sky.

“I’m sure,” replied a second voice, its timbre lower, smoother and strangely, very soothing. Jiraiya steeled his senses in order to avoid becoming affected. He was no helpless woman or an innocent child, but the carmine colored eyes gleaming beneath a high collar in the darkness were enough to make the great sage shift with discomfort. Not that in any real sense, he was in any immediate danger. The stoic Akatsuki member appeared to have his bloodline limit activated upon nearly every event of their brief encounters. Despite the tear-shaped tomoe spinning lazily in the elder Uchiha’s eyes, Jiraiya knew that he had virtually nothing to worry about.
With a sigh, he tilted his head back against the aged brick wall, and stared up as the rain sheeted down from the sky.

If what Itachi had just told him was really true…

“You are right in your way of being apprehensive about accepting what I have just told you,” the Sharingan wielder said quietly, crossing his cloaked arms under his chest. The older man had clearly been suspicious from the start of their meetings, but had decided, for the sake of Konoha, and the rest of the Fire country, to install a bit of trust within him. Itachi found those reasons both to be honorable and commendable.

Aside from being able to leak information to a resident of his former home, and the place that he could only secretly depend on in regards to the safety of his brother, Itachi also found it somewhat alleviating to have someone to share his thoughts and burdens with. Over the past few years, Jiraiya had learned of his situation, and the ties that the young man could not bring himself to sever between himself and Konoha. They had formed a stable alliance, where Itachi could keep an eye on his younger brother from a distance, under the shadow of the precarious organization Akatsuki, while providing Jiraiya with the knowledge of its current affairs and whereabouts. It seemed well enough to rival the debt he felt he owed to Konoha; or at least…up until this point in time.

“If the Akatsuki has already begun to actively hunt Jinchuuriki, they will expect you to do the same,” Jiraiya realized, interrupting the Uchiha’s pendulous thoughts. Itachi brought one hand up to touch the necklace hanging around his neck; a gift he’d received from his brother in congratulations on successfully being admitted into ANBU a very a long time ago.

“I know this…and I’ve already participated in more than one extraction,” Jiraiya’s expression visibly darkened at the revelation, but otherwise he remained quiet. The silence wavered between them for a lingering moment, with the exception of the rain pelting relentlessly against the roof of the buildings behind them with a gentle, metallic ping.

It wasn’t a surprise to Jiraiya to hear such a thing, as Itachi could not simply get by with only looking the part. But at the rate of quickly dissipating Jinchuuriki…not to mention that Konoha had a sealed beast of its own—
“I will no longer be feigning my pursuit of Uzumaki Naruto.”

“What?” Jiraiya felt his body grow cold, and the color quickly leaving his face. “What do you mean, you won’t be feigning it?” Surely he wasn’t implying that he would now actively begin hunting the boy in earnest…

“It’s not what you are thinking,” the Uchiha assured quietly, still running his fingers over the small loops of the delicate silver chain. He seemed to be taking a moment to properly string together the next words of his sentence. Letting out an almost audible sigh, Itachi then pressed his lips into a hard line, before he began to speak.

“My younger brother is a close friend of the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki. By no longer pursuing him, I am hoping that he will also to continue his pursuit of Sasuke. I also know that it is only a matter of time before Sasuke begins to look for me. When I am no longer here…that boy will be the only person to stop my brother from fully submitting himself into darkness.”

A long silence stretched between them.

Aware of at least a few of the most severe intentions behind Itachi’s past ministrations, it did not come to him as a surprise that everything boiled down to revolving around Sasuke; theirs was a tragic family history. The elder Uchiha only wanted what he believed would be in his brother’s best interest, and keeping himself available for an encounter for the younger Sharingan user was probably the key to the final act of their tale.

“I think I understand,” Jiraiya inclined his head as he responded quietly. He was about to push away from the wall, ending their meeting without seeing a need for any further words when Itachi abruptly spoke again. Vaguely aware of the young man’s unchanged position, Jiraiya was certain that he would not be followed after. It was the gravity of his words that rooted toad sage to the spot.

“This is my resignation from the Akatsuki, as well as the last time we will probably meet again. Thank you for what you have done for me, Jiraiya-sama. Good-bye.”
The shadows shifted in the alley behind the white-haired man, as he was now facing the entrance. Knowing that the ex-ANBU was long gone, he squared his shoulders and trained his eyes on the empty street ahead. The wind howled against his ears, accompanied by a rainy whoosh. Closing his eyes against the cold grey light of the bruise-colored sky, the sennin stepped out into the street again, disappearing easily into the sheeting rain.

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TBC
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