#choino

So now you sat alone. Gin sweating in your glass. Lipstick half-worn. Every man you looked at here looked like a cautionary tale in athletic-fit jeans.

It had been two years.

Not because you were a virgin—god no—but because the kind of men you let in once tended to stay long after you threw them out. And lately your body had been screaming at you about it. Heat pooled in your spine every time you leaned back in your chair. The occasional muscle memory of hands that never bothered to learn the map of you.

And you wanted it anyway.

You wanted it so badly it was annoying.

But you couldn’t even stand the thought of letting some two-pump stranger inside you, fingers rough and clueless, teeth on the wrong places, groaning into your hair like they’d split the atom.

You scrolled down to his name first.

Gojo Satoru

Your thumb hesitated over the message box.

You’d been seeing him casually for… a while. He liked to joke about how you “kept coming back” like it was some magic trick, as though you weren’t also seeing someone else behind his back.

Which he would deserve to know if you cared enough to explain yourself. Which you didn’t.

He sent you a message first, actually.

Satoru: miss me yet? 😉

You could practically hear it in his voice, that cocky edge—but softer now. Not quite as loud as he used to be with the other girls.

You didn’t answer yet. Instead, you scrolled lower.

Ryomen Sukuna

A different kind of danger. He didn’t even pretend to be nice about it. He spoke to you like he already owned you, and it irritated you enough to keep entertaining him.

He sent you something too.

Sukuna: Where the fuck are you tonight. Don’t make me come find you.

Always like that. Possessive, like he could sense when your attention strayed.

You set the phone down for a second and surveyed the bar again. Two guys by the pool table glanced away when you met their eyes. You could already picture what they’d say if you took them home—you’re so tight, baby, you’re so—

You weren’t doing it because cheating thrilled you.

You were doing it because some drunk college girls crying in a bathroom had asked you to chew them up, spit them out, then feed that mess to the ones who’d hurt them—so it’d feel like they still had the last word.

Gojo was notorious for saying whatever you needed to hear until he got what he wanted, then never looking back. And Sukuna—well, he was Sukuna.

The girls weren’t even your friends.

You’d just drunkenly agreed, because female tears had always meant more to you than a man’s life.

The girls had all graduated now. No calls, no texts. You didn’t mind.

They’d told you to do whatever it took. Sleeping with him had been the least of it.

You took a sip. Let it burn.

When you picked up the phone again, you decided to ask them both what you really needed to know.

Not outright, of course. You liked to watch men squirm.

To Gojo, you typed:

You: Tell me, do you actually know what you’re doing? Or do you just talk a big game because everyone assumes you’re good?

The little typing dots appeared immediately.

Satoru: …excuse me???

Satoru: You doubt me??

Satoru: Babe. I’m offended.

Satoru: You know how many women have cried for me?

You rolled your eyes so hard it almost hurt.

You: I asked if you know what you’re doing. Not if you make women cry.

He sent a selfie of himself looking mock-hurt, fingers over his heart. Then:

Satoru: Come over and let me prove it then. …Unless you’re scared I’ll ruin you for everyone else. 😏

Typical.

You flipped to Sukuna.

You: Do you actually care about a woman’s pleasure, or are you just… fast and loud and think that counts?

You watched the dots come and go. Then:

Sukuna: the fuck kind of question is that

Sukuna: you think I’m some frat boy?

Sukuna: I don’t even take my pants off unless I know you’ll be begging me by the end of it.

You smirked at that one despite yourself.

At least he wasn’t pretending to be humble.

You: So what does begging mean to you?

Sukuna: you. on your knees. clawing at me. not even pretending you want it to stop.

You set the phone face down on the bar.

They were both horrible in their own ways—beautiful, dangerous, capable of wrecking your life if you let them.

Which you probably would.

Neither knew about the other.

And neither knew about Ino, who’d caught your eye in quiet moments between classes. Awkward, dorky, and inexplicably charming in a way that didn’t smell like bleach or entitlement.

He sat two tables down now. Glasses slipping down his nose while he scrolled through something on his phone, embarrassed when Nanami barked at him from the doorway. Toji walked by and flicked his ear.

Ino just mumbled something and adjusted his collar.

You watched him longer than you meant to.

Then picked up your phone again.

Satoru: still typing…

Sukuna: where the fuck are you. answer me.

You slid your fingers over the glass, half-distracted by the shape of Ino’s hands around his drink, the way he held himself like he was already bracing for impact.

And when the bartender came by, you handed her your empty glass.

“Another?” she asked.

You smiled, slow. “No,” you said. “I think I just made up my mind.”

Your legs were going numb against the stool, but you didn’t move yet.

Not until you were sure.

The gin had long since gone warm in your glass, and the texts from Gojo and Sukuna were still sitting there, glowing like two separate little threats.

Satoru: Just say when and where. Promise I’ll make you forget every other guy you’ve met. 😏

Sukuna: if you’re fucking someone else i’ll break his neck. now pick up the fucking phone.

You scrolled up through their old messages absently, studying their words like they were evidence exhibits. They kind of were.

You weren’t sentimental about this. You didn’t want someone who’d light candles and whisper about “making love.”

You just didn’t want your own body to betray you again.

Two years without sex had made the vaginismus worse. You knew it.

Every time you even tried to use your own fingers, you could feel it—that snap-shut, burning lock that even the most tender partner would mistake for disinterest or rejection.

And tenderness wasn’t exactly the word that came to mind with either of these men.

So now you had to figure out whose dick would hurt less.

Or, more precisely, which one actually knew how to use it.

You picked up your phone again and typed.

To Gojo:

You: I’m serious. How big are you actually. Because if it’s just ‘looks big in sweatpants’ big, then I’m not impressed.

He answered faster than humanly possible.

Satoru: LMFAO

Satoru: You’re adorable.

Satoru: I’m not some “sweatpants big” guy. I’m ruin-your-life big. I’ve had women cry after bc they couldn’t walk the next day.

Satoru: But you? you’d handle it. I’d make sure of it.

You snorted. Of course.

That didn’t tell you anything.

Men who brag like that were usually five inches and counting the base.

So you moved to Sukuna.

You: If it’s just all attitude and no follow-through, you can stop pretending now. Better be honest.

A beat.

Sukuna: I don’t pretend.

Sukuna: big enough to split you in half if I wanted. but I know how to make it good for you.

Sukuna: I don’t rush. I make sure you remember me for weeks.

Marginally more promising.

Still unprovable.

You locked your phone and finally uncrossed your legs, standing up just as someone bumped into you—a clumsy boy with messy brown hair and glasses slipping down his nose. He was holding a stack of books and muttered something like “sorry” without meeting your eyes before scurrying to a booth at the back.

You didn’t have to look twice to recognize him. Ino.

Poor bastard.

Nanami and Toji had been making sport of him since the semester started—you’d seen it more than once. Nanami with that quiet, surgical disdain, and Toji with open, brutish mockery, smirking when Ino fumbled his notes or tripped over himself.

Theirs was an odd friendship. Nanami and Toji, polar opposites when you saw them together, but somehow laughed at the same jokes.

Even now, you could see them at the other end of the bar, watching him from their table like wolves scenting a rabbit. Nanami adjusted his hoodie’s collar and muttered something to Toji, who laughed low in his throat.

Ino dropped a pen trying to sit down, and Toji made a little show of clapping for him. Ino just straightened his shoulders and ignored them, which—you had to respect—showed more dignity than you’d have expected.

You glanced back at your phone. Still nothing useful.

You needed… data. You needed something more concrete than ego and metaphors about splitting you in half.

So you texted Gojo again.

You: Do you know what a clit is, or is it just a rumor you’ve heard about.

Satoru: …

Satoru: You’re hilarious

Satoru: Babe, I could find it in the dark with both hands tied behind my back.

Satoru: And I wouldn’t stop until you’re shaking.

Satoru: You think I got this reputation by accident?

You rolled your eyes so hard it hurt.

To Sukuna:

You: How’s your… technique. Do you think two fingers jackhammering counts as foreplay, or do you actually know what you’re doing.

Sukuna: hah

Sukuna: I know what I’m doing.

Sukuna: I take my time. mouth, hands, everything. I know exactly how to tear you apart & put you back together.

Sukuna: but if you’re scared, say so.

Both of them sounded exactly like every man you’d already dismissed tonight.

But at least they were clean. Probably.

When you finally left the bar, you still hadn’t made up your mind.

---

It was almost annoying how many people noticed you when you walked onto campus.

Eyes followed you through the courtyard. Whispers followed too—not the cruel kind, but the awed kind. You’d been here long enough to recognize it.

More women than men noticed you, actually. Which you preferred.

Gojo was already leaning against the wall outside the astrophysics building, sunglasses on, grinning like he’d been waiting for you all morning.

“Hey, stranger,” he called out, loud enough that half the crowd looked up. “Don’t tell me you’re still mad at me for last night.”

You didn’t break stride. Didn’t even look at him.

“Ah,” he murmured, theatrically clutching his heart as you passed. “Playing hard to get. Love that.”

From the corner of your eye you could see his friends—Suguru among them—watching, amused.

Gojo flashed them a look as if to say, See? Mine.

Then you heard another voice. “Don’t fucking ignore me.”

You turned your head just slightly to see Sukuna standing at the other end of the courtyard near the MBA building, arms crossed, tattooed fingers tapping against his bicep.

He was watching Gojo with a look that could kill a small god.

“Tell him to fuck off already,” Sukuna said, loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.

Instead, you kept walking.

Gojo called after you, “Don’t worry—she’ll come crawling back. They always do.”

Sukuna’s laugh followed you too. Dark and low. “Sure. Until she figures out you’ve got nothing to offer but talk.”

The crowd was eating it up.

But you? You just kept walking—toward the library, where Ino sat at a table in the corner with his laptop, headphones in, blissfully unaware of the spectacle outside.

Even now, Toji and Nanami loitered nearby, pretending to look at a notice board while muttering under their breath and occasionally glancing toward Ino.

You slipped into the chair opposite him, setting your bag down deliberately.

He looked up, startled. “Uh… hi?”

“Hi.” You leaned your chin on your hand and watched his ears go pink. Not with romantic shyness—with the quiet, resentful kind of embarrassment someone gets when they’re used to being laughed at.

Nanami’s voice drifted over from the notice board. “Ino, you forgot how to talk again?”

Toji chuckled low. “Leave him. He can’t help being useless.”

You didn’t bother looking at them.

Instead, you stared at Ino like you were considering something—which you were.

Ino cleared his throat and tried to focus on his screen.

Behind you, Sukuna’s voice cut through the murmur of the library.

“Get your ass over here,” he called.

A beat later:

“Or better yet—get over here and apologize for ignoring me.”

You didn’t move.

Then Gojo’s voice, almost overlapping, “There you are. I was starting to think you didn’t love me anymore.”

Both of them stood on opposite sides of the library now, staring each other down across the tables and pretending they weren’t drawing an audience.

Suguru had appeared behind Gojo at some point, smirking faintly, and Toji was openly enjoying himself now, leaning against the doorframe.

You glanced up at them briefly.

“Do I know you?” you asked flatly.

Gojo froze mid-step. Sukuna’s head tilted dangerously to the side.

Someone at a nearby table snickered.

You smoothed your sleeve and opened a book, pretending they weren’t even there.

That was the worst part for them, you knew.

Not the silence.

Not the rejection.

But the sheer audacity of a woman—the woman everyone else wanted on their arm, not to love but to gain status through showing her off—acting like they were nothing but classmates.

It made them both seethe.

You didn’t even hide your little smile when you saw their fists clench at their sides, as if the idea of you walking past them without a word was more humiliating than if you’d slapped them.

And across from you, Ino finally risked a glance up at you—his expression confused but not hopeful.

He wasn’t stupid.

He knew what this was: not kindness, just curiosity.

Which was more than most men you’d met could say.

You kept reading.

Let them stew.

You’d just started enjoying the quiet—their wounded pride hanging in the air like humidity—when the chair beside Ino scraped back.

You didn’t look up right away, but the movement was impossible to ignore.

A tall figure sat down next to Ino, dropped his messenger bag without ceremony, and leaned over his shoulder to mutter something in his ear.

Ino stiffened slightly, then relaxed again.

And then—kiss.

Right there, in front of you and everyone else pretending not to watch, Choso leaned in and pressed his mouth against the hinge of Ino’s jaw. Not a shy kiss, not obscene either—just intimate enough to make the back of your teeth ache.

Your head came up then, slow.

Choso didn’t even look at you at first. He was busy glaring at Nanami and Toji where they stood, still trying to look like they owned the room.

Nanami met his gaze for about three seconds before glancing away, jaw tight. Toji didn’t bother hiding his grin, but even he seemed slightly less smug under the weight of it.

You—meanwhile—sat perfectly still, fingers curled around the corner of your page.

Of course.

Of course the one man on campus who you thought might be worth unraveling turned out to already be spoken for.

And by Sukuna’s brother, no less.

You didn’t let it show on your face.

Choso finally glanced at you across the desk. His eyes stayed on yours, polite, but his mouth barely moved when he finally spoke—quiet enough that only you could hear him.

“…Choso. Nice to meet you,” he murmured.

The corner of your mouth tugged. “Likewise,” you replied, tone perfectly polite.

And the worst part—the worst part—was that you couldn’t even hate him. Not even internally.

Because that was what it looked like, you thought. What you’d never had and never wanted but envied all the same—someone who could touch you in public and mean it without making it about himself.

You forced yourself to look back down at your book, even though you could feel both Gojo and Sukuna watching you from opposite ends of the room, simmering.

You didn’t acknowledge either of them.

---

It was later that afternoon when Gojo found you alone in the empty hallway outside your seminar room.

You didn’t bother looking up when he leaned against the wall next to you, still wearing those obnoxious sunglasses even indoors.

“I owe you an apology,” he said finally.

You blinked at him.

“For… what?” you asked coolly.

He scratched the back of his neck. “Y’know. Being… that guy.”

You raised an eyebrow. “You’ll have to narrow it down.”

He grinned faintly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “…For assuming you’d just keep orbiting me. Even though I’ve been a dick.”

You watched him for a beat. Then finally shrugged. “You’re forgiven.”

His relief was instant. He draped an arm lazily over your shoulder like nothing had happened and started babbling about dinner plans before you even finished gathering your things.

By the time he walked you out of the building, he was already back to talking about how much you’d “missed” him and how you “looked like you needed it bad.”

You ignored him and unlocked your car.

---

You found Sukuna waiting outside your apartment building that night, leaning on the hood of his car like he owned the place.

You stopped a few feet away, arms crossed.

He didn’t speak for a long moment.

Then finally:

“…I fucked up.”

Your eyebrow ticked up.

“I’m not good at—whatever the fuck this is,” he continued, staring somewhere over your shoulder. “But. I don’t wanna make you feel like I own you. I just… don’t like seeing other assholes think they can touch you.”

You stared at him evenly.

“That’s sweet,” you said dryly, after a beat too long. Just enough to make him uncomfortable.

He snorted. “Don’t push it.”

But he didn’t touch you. Just opened your door for you when you moved past him.

You forgave him, too.

And unlike Gojo, he didn’t immediately bring up sex afterward. He actually asked about your assignments. Let you vent about some professor who kept calling you miss instead of doctor. Even offered to break the guy’s kneecaps if you wanted.

It was unsettling how that almost made you like him.

---

You hadn’t planned on sleeping with either of them.

But Sukuna caught you off guard.

You’d let him walk you up to your apartment one night. He didn’t even try to come in at first—just leaned in the doorway, arms crossed, muttering that your building “smelled like a home full of mint and bad decisions.”

You didn’t remember who kissed whom first—just his hands. Bracing on either side of your face, hot and steady, his thumbs dragging over your cheekbones like he was trying to memorize you. His mouth was rough, not rushed—bruising yours deliberately, tilting your chin where he wanted it—but he never pushed past what you gave him.

And before you realized what you were doing, you’d already tugged him inside by his shirt.

He followed you without a word, lips skimming the side of your neck, fingers already working at the zipper of your dress.

But when he pressed you back against the wall, you froze.

Not from fear—just muscle memory, bitter and familiar, your body locking up the way it always did when it remembered how bad it could hurt.

He caught it instantly.

His mouth stilled against your shoulder.

His eyes flicked up to yours—sharp, assessing—and then he stepped back a full foot, hands raised slightly.

“You good?” he murmured.

You nodded too fast.

He narrowed his eyes faintly, watching you for another second. Then said, low and rough, “Take your time.”

That—more than anything—made you feel like your lungs worked again.

When he finally guided you toward the bed, he didn’t crowd you. He just stripped your t-shirt and shorts down lazily, leaning back on his elbows, watching you sit there with your hands in your lap like you were waiting for a verdict.

“You scared?” he asked, voice quieter now.

You hesitated. “…Not scared. Just—”

“—tight,” he finished for you, flat and certain. “Doesn’t go in easy. Hurts if they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.”

Your head snapped up at that.

He gave you the faintest smirk—not unkind. “Figured it out the first time you locked up under my hands.”

Your face burned.

But instead of mocking you, he just leaned closer and murmured, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

And for the first time—you wanted to believe someone. Him.

He didn’t touch himself first. Didn’t rush.

He settled between your thighs fully clothed, his palms bracing your hips as he leaned over to press slow, open-mouthed kisses into your ribs, your sternum, the hollow of your throat—until your shoulders softened under him and you stopped flinching.

When he finally let his hand trail lower, he didn’t try to slip inside. Not yet.

He just brushed you deliberately with his knuckles, circling slow, coaxing your hips into moving on their own.

He muttered something against your collarbone—soft, like, “that’s it… just let me have it”—while his thumb dragged in lazy circles over your clit, his other hand still cradling the back of your neck.

You felt yourself unclench. Not all at once, but enough.

“Better?” he murmured, not even looking away.

You nodded, shaky.

“Yeah,” you managed.

Only then did he ease one finger inside—careful, shallow—pausing every time your breath hitched, waiting for the muscles to stop fighting him. He didn’t shove, didn’t even fully penetrate at first; just gently stretched you, curling slightly at an angle that burned but didn’t tear.

“Still good?” he asked again, quiet.

“…Yeah,” you whispered.

He added another finger, slow—still patient—feeling you tighten reflexively and then deliberately stroking along the inside wall, gently coaxing it to release.

By the time he finally slid his fingers out and kissed you again, you’d stopped thinking about how this could go wrong and focused on the way his tongue flicked against your nipples.

When he lined himself up and pressed forward, you gasped—because he was big, more than you’d expected even knowing his arrogance, and the initial stretch made your eyes sting—but he didn’t force himself the whole way in.

He stayed still halfway, lowering his forehead to yours, breath warm against your cheek.

“Tell me when,” he muttered.

You nodded against him.

It took longer than you wanted to admit—the hot sting of your body learning how to take him, his hands gripping your hips steady but not moving yet—until finally you exhaled, and he sank in deeper.

He groaned against your ear—low, sharp, but restrained.

“Fuck, you’re tight,” he murmured—but it didn’t sound like a complaint or a bad thing like the others said it.

Once he had you there, he stayed still again for a moment, letting you adjust, letting the ache settle into something sharper but bearable. Maybe even pleasurable. His mouth brushed along your jaw, murmuring things you couldn’t even parse—"You’re fine; look at me, just like that.”

When he finally began to move—careful at first—your body didn’t clamp down the way it usually did.

And when you came apart under him, it wasn’t because he hurt you or rushed you or made you feel small—it was because he’d taken his time, because he stayed, because he actually knew.

After, he didn’t roll away. He didn’t gloat.

He stayed half-propped on his elbow, tracing his knuckles along your jaw.

“You were always fine,” he murmured. “Just needed someone who knew what the fuck he was doing.”

You swallowed, staring at the ceiling.

Because he was right.

And because for once—for once—you came and didn’t feel like erasing the memory of a man inside you.

---

You didn’t see Gojo again until three days later, when you ran into Suguru and the others on campus.

He was unusually quiet—leaning against a railing, staring off into the middle distance while Suguru rambled about something inconsequential.

You would have walked right past him if Suguru hadn’t stopped you.

“You two good?” he asked, glancing between you and Gojo.

Gojo straightened slightly and forced a grin. “Yeah,” he said easily. “She’s just shy.”

You shot him a flat look.

Then—almost as an afterthought—he added, “You still coming to meet my parents this weekend?”

You stopped cold. “What?”

Gojo blinked. “…I said—you’re still coming to meet my parents this weekend, right?”

Suguru stared at him like he’d grown two heads.

You stared at him like he’d grown three.

“…You’ve never even mentioned you had parents before,” you said slowly.

Gojo just shrugged. “Well. You’re special.”

And just like that—it clicked.

The endless cocky jokes, the endless women on campus falling at his feet, the casual way he wore everyone’s attention like it was his birthright. None of them knew anything real about him.

Not even you.

That night, lying awake in your own bed, you couldn’t stop thinking about how easy it had been to hate him—and how much worse it felt now that you couldn’t.

Man-eater status: intact.

But you still texted Sukuna again the next week anyway.

Because at least he never pretended.

---

You didn’t plan to intervene.

You never did.

But when you stepped out of the library that afternoon and saw Ino cornered—again—it felt different.

Toji had him by the collar, slammed against the wall, grinning—bored cruelty made flesh. Nearby, Nanami stood with his arms folded, radiating the quiet threat of a man methodically filing paperwork... and fully prepared to weaponize the stapler.

Ino didn’t even try to struggle anymore. His knuckles were white where he gripped his books; his jaw was tight, but he wouldn’t meet either of their eyes.

You’d been watching this exact scene play out for weeks. Maybe months.

But something in you finally snapped.

Your heel struck the floor harder than you meant as you crossed the courtyard. “—That’s enough,” you said evenly.

Nanami’s head barely turned. Toji raised an eyebrow.

“And here comes the princess,” Toji drawled.

You stopped just short of them, arms loose at your sides, eyes on Ino. “Let him go.”

Nanami’s mouth quirked humorlessly. “Not your business.”

“It is now,” you replied.

Toji snorted. “What’s this, you finally scraping the bottom of the barrel?”

“Let. Him. Go.”

Toji stared at you, his hand still gripping Ino’s collar, his eyes narrowing just slightly—and then, suddenly, another voice cut through the air.

It wasn’t calm.

It wasn’t even words at first—just a guttural noise that made everyone freeze.

You didn’t even see him coming until he shoved Toji so hard the man staggered backward, slamming into the wall.

The entire courtyard went silent.

“You two think you’re big men, huh?” Gojo hissed, pulling his sunglasses down, eyes blazing. “Picking on someone who’s got more fucking guts than both of you combined—”

Nanami barely had time to turn before Gojo’s fist connected with his jaw.

It wasn’t clean. It wasn’t pretty.

It wasn’t the cool, untouchable Gojo everyone expected—it was messy and furious, years of pent-up hurt boiling over.

Toji recovered first, swinging hard at Gojo’s ribs. The sound of it made your stomach turn.

Gojo didn’t even flinch.

You caught yourself stepping forward—stupid, dangerous—but before you could interfere again, someone else did.

Choso.

He appeared at the edge of the fray like a shadow and moved fast—grabbing Toji by the collar and yanking him back, slamming him to the ground. His hand was already red, blood gathering at his knuckles as he delivered another blow.

For a second, it was chaos—fists and curses and heavy, wet sounds of impact.

Then Nanami finally shoved Gojo off and backed away, wiping blood from his mouth.

Toji followed, laughing low, already retreating.

“You’re both insane,” Nanami muttered, straightening.

Gojo didn’t answer. He was breathing hard, with blood at the corner of his lip and one sleeve torn.

Choso hovered just behind him, still glaring after Toji and Nanami, his fingers curled protectively around Ino’s arm.

You watched them—all of them—in silence.

---

Later, you found Gojo sitting on the steps outside the engineering nerds dorms, head bowed, knuckles split.

You didn’t speak at first.

And when you finally sat down beside him, he didn’t look up.

“…You didn’t have to,” you murmured.

His laugh was low and humorless.

“Couldn’t help it,” he admitted.

You studied him—his profile still sharp even in defeat, his fingers twitching against his knee like he wasn’t sure what to do with them.

He turned finally, eyes a little too bright.

“I thought—” he started. Then stopped.

You swallowed.

“Gojo,” you spoke gently.

He flinched at the sound of his name.

“I don’t think this is…” You searched for the word. “Enough. For me.”

He stared at you like he didn’t understand.

“I want to see other people,” you said finally.

The words hung in the air, cruel and clean.

His jaw flexed, but he didn’t argue.

Just nodded once, slow, and let you stand up without another word.

When you glanced back over your shoulder, he was still sitting there, staring at the ground.

---

You didn’t mean to end up at Sukuna’s door.

But by the time you climbed his stairs and knocked, your legs were already shaking.

He answered shirtless, soft spiky pink hair mussed, a faint scowl softening when he saw your face.

“Took you long enough,” he muttered, stepping aside to let you in.

You dropped your bag and kicked off your shoes without ceremony.

The apartment was warmer than you expected—cluttered but clean, a faint smell of dark rose and soap.

You hovered in the doorway for a beat before he tilted his head toward the couch.

“You gonna stand there all night?”

You settled on the edge of the couch, suddenly heavy.

He watched you for a long moment, then crouched in front of you, hands on your knees.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he said quietly.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re waiting for me to hurt you.”

You swallowed.

“I’m not,” you whispered.

His fingers squeezed gently—enough to ground you, not enough to bruise.

“You wanna stay here tonight?” he asked finally.

You nodded.

“Alright,” he murmured.

It wasn’t like you expected.

He didn’t press or push or even touch you much after that.

You curled on his bed fully clothed, cheek against his pillow, his scent already working its way into your lungs.

He lay on his back beside you, one arm flung over his face, breathing steady.

You stared at the ceiling.

You’d told yourself this was just about power.

About control.

About proving you could take and take and never give too much of yourself.

But lying there—the fight still echoing in your chest, Gojo’s silence still heavy in your ribs—you felt something else creep in.

You didn’t name it.

Didn’t dare.

Sukuna’s hand brushed against yours under the covers, rough and warm.

You didn’t pull away.

---

The next morning, you walked back across campus with Sukuna at your side.

Heads turned. Whispers rose.

Nanami stood near the library steps, arms crossed, eyes following you both.

Toji whistled low when you passed, a faint bruise still blooming at his jaw.

And at the far end of the quad, Gojo leaned against a railing, watching you—no sunglasses this time, eyes bare and strange and quiet.

You didn’t slow.

Didn’t stop.

Because you already knew what they’d say.

And because you already knew what you’d say back.

Man-eater status: Undefeated.

Even if, just this once, you let yourself rest your head on someone’s shoulder and pretend it didn’t matter.

A/N: I blacked out halfway through writing & woke up holding a glass of wine whispering “househusband Ryomen” to myself.

Masterlist

~Justice for the Uchiha Clan~

"Monster..."

"Uchiha filth..."

"Demon..."

"Traitor scum..."

"Your kin misses you..."

"Go back to hell, where you belong..."

"You treacherous piece of trash..."

These venom-laced insults were replaying, over and over again, both in Sasuke's head, and in real time, as he stood there, chained to a wooden podium, with all kinds of low-life mercenaries, gathered from different corners of all five major shinobi nations, flinging rocks, garbage and dirt at him. He didn't even know anymore, how many hours or days he had stood there, strapped to this very podium, his wrists all bloody and irritated from the uncomfortable metal that was laced with a chakra-suppressing toxin, rendering him completely defenseless. Being stripped down to just his boxers, his entire body covered in bruises, dried blood and bruises.

Some in the audience were being extra creative, throwing marbles at him, and baby tomatoes. Which he had found morbidly ironic, considering...

...this must be intentional. Because, only few people actually realize how much he loved that fruit. And considering who was even responsible for him even having ended up in this "unique" predicament, it began to make sense, too. There were only two individuals, who would pull such a dirty trick on him, and those two cannot be from the Konoha 12. It can't be.

Kakashi, the Sixth Hokage, and Anko, the Uchiha spokesperson, the assistant & advisor of the Sixth Hokage, along with beloved spouse to said Hokage, had worked tirelessly - with the undying loyalty of not only Naruto and Sakura, but surprisingly, the rest of the Konoha 12, as well, with Neji, Kiba and Shikamaru on the frontlines - to clear not only his name, but that his family and clan, too. When he came back to Konoha, he wasn't greeted with hatred or malevolence. His return was treated like a celebration...

...which meant, only two individuals come to mind as potential candidates, that would very clearly be against this campaign in his family's honor:

Homura Mitokado.

Koharu Utatane.

The elders of the Konoha council.

They had always despised his family and clan, since day 1, and had only viewed them as resources and numbers, rather than living, breathing organisms. In fact, when Danzo was still alive, every single blunder that had hit the Leaf village in the last few decades or so, was purely resting on the shoulders of the elders.

Hiring child soldiers for the ROOT organization, without the Kage's knowledge, on-going operations of ROOT without given official authorization, kidnapping of young test subjects to be sold off to Orochimaru, the Uchiha clan massacre, sweeping all facts about the Uchiha bloodbath under the rug, attempts at political impeachment and attempted kidnapping of Naruto...

And these are merely scratching the surface. Sasuke knew, this rabbit hole of their crimes goes way deeper than that, and most of it has become tough to find any evidence of said crimes. And he knew this, because Anko, ever the sly and cunning reptile that she truly was, had laid all those facts bare to him and to all of the shinobi in the village. And since then, Homura and Koharu had gone off the grid. As if, they had already fled the state...

...wishful thinking, as, in that very moment, two familiar figures entered the hall. The light above his position extended to a bigger podium, almost like, having awaited the tamer of a "wild animal", that "wild animal", very likely, being him. And there, he saw them. Homura and Koharu.

But what truly unnerved the young Uchiha, was the soul-crushing reality that, even with the limited and subpar lighting of this hall, he knew where they were: The basement of the abandoned Uchiha compound. The fan insignia on the podium, being damning evidence of this horrific realization.

Then, Homura's gravely, raspy voice spoke, not to him, but to the mercenaries, who had gathered on this holy ground of his blood heritage, soiling it with their mere presence alone:

"Ladies and gentlemen. You’ve all come here for coin, for cause, or for chaos. Under a unified banner. The banner represents what truly matters... That those who still cling to reality know what true power is, when they see it. ...And for that, you have utmost gratitude. Oh, how quick the world seems to forget where true power lies. Those younglings had truly begun to believe that power itself doesn't come with hard decisions and bloodshed. That you only have to hold peace-seeking speeches, to assure everyone's safety. It's nothing but hot air. These people have nowhere near an idea on how to lead a nation, let alone one, that had held its own for centuries. And all it takes is one jinchuriki living the dream that peace can be attained, just by crying out into the wind for it, and begging on their knees, "for a friend"... What idealistic nonsense! The kind of self-serving fancy talk, that would only be said by someone, who never had to grasp the true realities of what came with being a leader... ...Because all you need to see, to make you understand, why those, rebelling against the first order, are destined to fail... ...Is that young man, as the center of your hubris."

He raised his cane to point it in Sasuke's direction. He didn't even need to turn around to sense what he was doing. He knew whom he was referring to. Naruto.

The blond village jester, now crowned war hero, has sacrificed, not just a limb, but the entirety of his sanity, just to keep everyone in the other nations from beheading him, and putting his head on a spit, like a war trophy.

Then, Koharu spoke, rising to the podium in place of her partner, her elderly voice, laced with intense venom and animosity, as, for this rare occasion, she decided to open her, usually, closed off eyes:

"Sasuke Uchiha. The last scourge of the Uchiha clan. The boy, who lived to see the rising sun. He wore the robe of the Akatsuki. He aided terrorists. He drew a blade on the Five Kage Summit and spilled innocent blood. And now? They call him redeemed. These cretins will never be able to tell their tushes from their elbow, even if their lives depended on it. This young man is a curse, born of century old arrogance, a blade with no master, a traitor with no regard for human life. It's been ingrained into his DNA. An Uchiha is not capable of real love, unless it comes with the condition of you becoming its puppet, exploiting you, until there is nothing left. The likes of him, doesn’t seek peace. It's not in their nature. He seeks legacy. Let us not ourselves any further. He wants to be remembered as the Uchiha, who soon overcame the feats of his headmaster, Madara."

But that last line of hers felt like a spear being rammed into his heart, and having it twist and turn, with a sickening, metaphorical skin tear and crunch...

"...People of his caliber cannot be loved. Give them a finger, and they take your whole hand. For generations, the Uchiha have done nothing, but feed off of the very freedom that we provided this village, and that one time, when they began questioning the manner, in which we provided the very blanket of the freedom that we gave to the citizens of this proud village, day in day out, it only resulted in their impending doom. The Uchiha are nothing, but a cautionary tale. They don't "love intensely", they don't even love to begin with, it's more on the spectrum of mentally ill "obsession". They cannot love someone, without the condition being met, of hurting them at the exact same time. That is what they thrive off of, not connection, but disconnection. Why else do you think their Sharingan is considered so valuable... ...They are nothing, but a bunch of starving canines, only fit to feed those, higher up on the food chain. Nothing else. Their minds and hearts are just as fragile and empty as their eyes... Unchain them, and you get only problems... So you see, this is why, we had to kill the rest of his kin, they would have burned everything down, and still believe themselves to be "on the right side of history"..."

Sasuke kneeled, his legs growing weak from the seemingly endless hours of punishment he endured, except...

...he was doing this willingly. His spirit was broken, the moment he got drugged and kidnapped, as he realized: He will never be welcome here, or anywhere else. The Uchiha will never find peace, as long as he is alive. And this thought didn't come to him overnight. It had begun festering, right after the 4th shinobi war had ended.

He had endangered so many people with his reckless, emotionally driven decisions, hadn't he helped out during the war, he might as well have been rotting in a jail cell, and he wouldn't have complained. The truth of the matter is: During his three years of self-exile, he had a lot of time to reflect on his own life choices, and how much he had decided to weaponize his trauma to hurt those he had held so dearly, or, given what Koharu implied, so he thought. Did he truly love any of them? Was he trying to escape everything, because he felt like he didn't deserve anything? And he just wanted to suffer...

...even though everyone welcomed him back home with open arms? With not only a monument to honor the fallen Uchiha, but also, a statue of Shisui... Was that not enough?

This vicious cycle of desiring self-harm and survivor's guilt had never left his mind, and he could never break free. Because now, he has even less reason to, since, if he were to be free, then it would, that this fragile "peace", between the nations, would be put at risk, one more time, all because of him drawing breath. He had come home to a place, where the heart may welcome him, but the mind didn't want to stay. He had hoped something would change, and it did, but the existence of the elders proves that maybe, there really isn't any higher justice for him out there. He is doomed to suffer for all eternity. As such, he commits himself to fate. He stopped fighting it, because he knew...

...if he suffered this much in silence, everyone would be happier. There would be no war. No one will have to die. So he shall endure some more, who cares? So he thinks. And then, he remembers...

...Sakura's tears, on that very night, when they had made amends, after seven years of unspoken feelings. He remembered it all so vividly...

FLASHBACK

They tightly embraced one another, both of them sobbing into each other's shoulders, with the Uchiha shakily asking:

Sasuke: "I am so sorry, Sakura... I-I can't change the past... If there is something I can do to ease that pain in your heart, just tell me... What should I do...?"

She gently, oh so lovingly tells him, despite the emotions racking her entire form, tightly gripping the back of his coat:

"...Stay. Just... Stay. That is all I need. It's all I want. I just want... You. No grand gestures or big apology speeches... Just you, Sasuke... Nothing else..."

END OF FLASHBACK

That gave Sasuke a damning realization: He really doesn't want to lose Sakura a second time. He already lost her once, if that were to happen again, he would prefer killing himself, than to further live with the shame of being a vapid, meaningless existence, only serving to please higher ups, and slowly whip them to sleep, with his obedience. If it means, she can continue to live on, without his existence weighing down both her, her given life task, and everything else he held dear.

"Sakura... Whatever you do... Don't come to rescue me... Please... It's not worth it, anymore... Should I die here, then all of you can start sleeping peacefully again, without the foul breaths of the Daimyōs coming down your necks."

All of a sudden, his breathing hitched, coming in short, irregular intervals, and two huge tears escaped his lower eyelids, his teeth gritting, his entire body shivering under the pressure, the metal shivering with him, knowing, he has no other choice, but to commit to fate, and become this village's pyre, yet again. Except this time, he was ready to do it willingly, as long as it meant preserving the smiles of Sakura, Naruto, and everyone else, who had sacrificed a piece of themselves to assure a safe home-coming for him.

"Forget me, please...! Just, move on...! It's better this way... I will continue to suffer, not to protect these cretins or the villagers, but my comrades, especially you, Sakura... Don't shed tears for garbage like me, this is the path I have chosen, and now, I am bearing the consequences for it... Whatever happens, don't come in here to break me free... I shall join my kin in the afterlife, if it means saving your lives..."

And in that moment, Koharu was showing off a jutsu of hers, exclusive to her own toolset. The mercenaries were shouting and cheering, when they saw it. A beam of pure, golden light, formed in her left open palm, before she grabbed the light with her right hand, revealing a long blade of pure-concentrated chakra. And that blade's target was obvious, it didn't need to be put into words on what she was planning on doing with it, a cold-blooded, demonic smirk forming on the old woman's lips, stating, getting into a stance, ready to lunge forward like a predator in the savannah, having locked onto its prey.

"...So please, be our guest. Let us keep reminding him, why the Uchiha were always meant to perish slowly, and painfully, as nothing but a bunch of failures, who thought they could challenge the first order... ...and being arrogant enough to believe, they can get away with it!"

She jumped off of the podium, everything slowing down, the mercenaries keep on cheering, wanting her to finish the job.

"Slit his throat!"

"Stab him through the heart!"

"Carry him out in a bodybag! 

"Say Hi to your family!"

"Bon voyage, asshole!"

And Sasuke made no effort to move, or shield himself in any way. He sat there, on his knees, eyes closed, cheeks damp, as he awaited his death sentence.

He stopped fighting. There was no point to it any longer. No matter what, he will always be the reason why the Leaf will be in grave peril, because these shriveled, old raisins will make sure to weaponize his existence, just to hold all of Japan at razor's edge. Ready to set the stage for conquest beyond their borders. But if his death can save the world...

...So be it.

...But then...

...something swoops in, parrying and holding back Koharu's golden chakra blade, with metallic sparks flying everywhere. Everyone in the room gasped in shock, and Sasuke swiftly turned his head, his mismatched eyes widening in terror, realizing who had just saved his life.

There she stood, the woman, to have played a vital role in cleansing the filth on his clan's name, the woman, to have escaped the clutches of Orochimaru, and living to tell the tale, refusing to let anyone else fall into his clutches, now bearing his Kusanagi blade as a wartime trophy. The Uchiha insignia, fluttering like a flag of unrelenting rebellion, on her new, sleeveless trench coat.

Anko Mitarashi.

The young Uchiha rasped out:

"A-Anko...?!"

The Konoha elders could only throw cold, displeased sneers at the woman, who had always proven to be a major pain in their asses, ever since being adopted into the village. With Homura telling her:

"My, we weren't expecting uninvited guests, tonight... What is it that you seek with us, Anko Mitarashi?"

The reptilian mother figure smirked. Without mirth, just pure, unforgiving malevolence, sarcastically telling them, while still holding Koharu's blade in place, the venom seeping out of her words, like a cobra:

"Oh, nothing major, really. I was just wondering if you just so happened to miss your keys... For a one way ticket to jail. I am sure, the prison guard is deeply missing your presence for tea time... But I am afraid, if you were to make me the judge today, I wouldn't arrest you... I would have LOVED to put you two old bags to the execution bank!"

"How noble of you... Unfortunately, we two don't have any time to spare with you... So won't you please be so kind..."

And Homura, growing truly restless, and just wanting this woman to disappear, decided to use his special technique, doing a hand sign, one-handed...

...then, out of nowhere, a purple-glowing arm rose out of the ground next to her, bearing five long claws on its finger nails, ready to slice at her, with Homura shouting in his gravelly voice:

"...TO GO AND DIE YOURSELF?!?!"

However, Anko was semi-immortal, thanks to her perfected Snake Sage mode, meaning, even if she were to be hit by this, it wouldn't make a difference, she would regenerate on the fly. She is a lot like Sakura, in that sense. Except, she isn't barred by bad chakra reserves...

...that shocked look of hers was only for show, as she returned to smirking, very wide, as she muttered:

"Now, you're in trouble, buddy..."

Right on cue, someone, with the sounds of a thousand birds, echoing through the hall, sped past Anko and Sasuke to slice at the purple arm, rising out of the ground, as it fell in half, onto itself.

Kakashi. The Copy Ninja. The Sixth Hokage. And Anko's beloved. 

His appearance now truly made the elders shiver in their boots. As they realized, they had been found out. If the Hokage shows up, this is a very bad sign, and they knew it. Especially once Kakashi, with both eyes now uncovered, his brows furrowing, spoke to them in a cold, nonchalant way, the pure, unrelenting fury being felt through his words and barely restraining shaking, being absolutely appalled at what his eyes had to be assaulted with here.

"Homura... Koharu... Would you please be so kind as to enlighten me on what is going on here? I know, when I am not around, you two are basically running the show here, but... I don't quite recall tactics like this being used by any level of leadership in the hierarchy. We live in peaceful times, more or less... So, tell me..."

He kneels right next to Sasuke, checking up on him, with a firm hand on his shoulder, before coldly asking them, and again, and this time, his anger almost palpable, to be felt in the way he was expressing them...

"...What is. The meaning. Of this?"

"We were--"

"Wrong answer."

And immediately, the entire basement is being stormed by an entire onslaught of shinobi, specifically, the Konoha 11.

Naruto, Sakura, Rock Lee, Neji, Tenten, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji and Ino. All of Konoha's best are here, with one goal in mind: To free Sasuke from the elders' clutches, with Kiba being the hype man, shouting out:

"WOO-HOO, BABY! LET'S POLITELY CRASH THIS DAMNED PARTY!"

Sasuke's blood ran cold. This was not meant to happen.

"You nutjobs...! You have all lost your damned minds...!"

Immediately, the mercenaries wanted to flee the scene, but the elite of Konoha's forces were just mowing them down. They don't actually kill them, but they aren't exactly going easy on them either.

Naruto is just mowing down hordes of the mercenaries, just by doing Shadow Clones on the fly, beating them silly, before summoning a chain of clones to turn it into a circus act.

Sakura decided to use a new technique. Through Lady Katsuyu's influence, her limbs become as soft as jelly, and she uses that new strength to smash all the mercenaries together, by stretching her limbs, encircling them as though she was a rope made of rubber, and they fall down, instantly.

Rock Lee decides to enter Drunken Fist mode, on the fly, dodging all the mercenaries like a certain famous martial artist, and adding the Wind element to his hits, even though he couldn't bend any chakra, and in one massive tornado spin, the group around him is taken out.

Neji went far less easy on his opponents, as he would just activate his Byakugan, and do a brutal, tiger-headed, green flame-encased Rotation move, to give the mercenaries some gnarly burns.

Tenten would just cover herself in chakra-infused armor, encasing herself in durable, yet light metal, also activating her built-in roller blades to speed at her opponents, slicing clean past them, and shooting off endless barrages of paper from her arm cannons, causing the entire tunnel system to shiver in response to the impact.

Kiba would fuse with Akamaru, but not becoming a wolf this time around, instead, their souls blend into another, with Kiba entering a yet to be perfected Wolf, pseudo-Sage mode, growling longer claws, and jagged spikes on his backside. But it was enough to make quick work of these mercenaries, as he bulldozes right through with his sheer weight and speed alone...

Shino was no slouch either. Summoning swarms of beetles to trap all of the mercenaries in his part of the basement in small vortexes, before magnetically drawing them closer to him, crossing his arms, and then sending them flying away, with the beetles having attached chakra wires to their abdomen. Which Shino uses to tug them closer, yet again for a second beatdown.

For Hinata, this was a cake walk. She gracefully dances through the hordes of mercenaries, not even activating her Byakugan throughout all of it, only, until she materialized a Lion Fist in her left hand to summon her trusty Lion katana, getting into position, firmly grasping the illusionary holdster of her blade, having a tight hold around the grip of her sword, kneeling on one leg forward, the other bending downward to concentrate all her chakra into one singular slice...

...speeding past all of them like a blur, too fast for the human eye to follow, retracting her blade into the holdster, glaring intensely like a true demon, her hair dancing in the wind she had generated with her insane speed, with all mercenaries closeby collapsing, shallow cuts deep enough to incapacitate them without killing them.

Shikamaru instead, made use of the dark, purposely wrecking all the oil lamps in the tunnel to encase all the mercenaries in makeshift Shadow Possession jail cells, before using Asuma's Burning Ash technique to char the trapped soldiers extra crispy, while unable to escape, the burning ash being a short lived spark in the blackness of the tunnel.

Ino, focused solely on tricking the mercenaries by acting all sultry, acting like a trained belly dancer, allowing herself to show her stuff, and then, for having looked too deeply into her, getting trapped in a nasty Genjutsu through her perfume. Causing the men and women to mistake each other for Ino, doing all the work for her, basically. Causing her, like the diva she truly was, swaying her platinum hair, like a supermodel, winning purely by being fabulous, and cunning to the bone.

And Choji, was being a goofball as per usual, except this time, he wasn't just relying on rolling into a ball, he was extending every part of his body, especially his mouth, proceeding to torment the mercenaries, by extending his gums and swallowing the mercenaries, chomping on them like peas in a pod, before spitting them out. All of them, knocked out.

Meanwhile, Kakashi and Anko were busy shielding the injured Sasuke from Koharu and Homura's relentless assault, Koharu repeatedly interlocking her golden blade, which she named, "Clouds of Heaven", with Anko's Kusanagi sword. All the while Kakashi did everything he could to dodge Homura's jutsu specialty in using the already existing shadows in the hall to summon daggers, shaped like bats to harass the Hatake with them, as they were pretty tough to dodge, especially when Kakashi was already in darkened corner, where they could spawn infinitely.

Sasuke could only stare at everything transpiring before his very eyes. His worst fears have just taken form. Everyone, who stepped up for him, has arrived to free him. He wanted to feel deeply touched, but he couldn't. Because everything taking place here is a death sentence for all of Japan. The elders will NOT take this disrespect, sitting down. They will not. They will give all their clans and families, along with the rest of the other nations, the same courtesy they have given his family and clan.

His eyes open wide, his breath coming in desperate hitches, cold sweat of pure, unfiltered terror, running down from his forehead, as the pressure grew too much for even him to handle. His life - his entire existence - is considered a mistake by many, whether he, or everyone else here in this very room, likes it or not. Once the elders reach the Daimyōs, and tell them of this event here, it's over. Their lives are forfeit. So, weakly, he mutters...

"No... This is all wrong... Stop it..."

Gradually raising his voice, his desperation reaching concerning heights...

"Stop it...! All of you, this is NOT worth it... What are you doing, senselessly throwing your lives away like...! Stop... Stop...!"

His forehead veins bulging, as he screamed at the top of his lungs:

"DO YOU HEAR ME?!?! I SAID, STOP IT!"

That made everyone in the room freeze up. Most of the mercenaries are already chained up, ready to be carried out for questioning. But especially Kakashi, Anko, Naruto and Sakura froze, staring at their treasured Uchiha...

...all the while, Homura and Koharu stopped resisting, as they could only smirk in a satisfied manner, knowing that this played right into their hands. The Uchiha is being a smart one for once, they thought. He understood what was at stake. The others did not. They just barged in, and thought it was a smart move to oppose the teachings of the forefathers, along with the manner in which they had provided the safety for this very ground they are standing on, for decades...

...or so they thought.

But Sasuke angrily told all of them, with Naruto and Sakura, by pure instinct, approaching Sasuke, wanting to listen first, to what he had to say, because they had known going into this, he is not going to approve.

"You fools...! Do you have any idea of what you are doing right now?! You are all signing your death warrants, as we speak! Are you out of your mind?! I was fine with being given some alms to make my stay here a little bit more comfortable, but what are you trying to pull?!?! ALL THIS CIRCUS, FOR ONE SINGULAR, WORTHLESS UCHIHA LIKE MYSELF, AS OPPOSED TO THE REST OF THE FREAKING WORLD?!?!?! Have you left your brains in the trash can before you got here?! These old farts, right behind me, are holding everything in the palm of their hands, one wrong move, and they can turn this entire village into a warzone! Innocent lives are at stake! And yet you risk it all, for one single man?! You're all demented...! I can't believe this..."

Naruto wants to cut in, stating firmly:

"...And? What of it? ...You think, has this village ever truly been "home" for me, either? Sasuke?"

"Huh...?"

Sakura cuts in, looking quite determined, her emerald green eyes exuding nothing but pure, unfiltered strength, the kind that even shook Sasuke to the core. Despite clearly being aware of what's at stake here. She is more than informed on the consequences. But she is not going to look away, when her beloved is being tormented by the same scumbags, who had tormented his family for generations.

"...If the existence, of a singular individual, is enough to make the higher ups wet themselves in fear, then that isn't peace, Sasuke. It's a glorified prison. And you are under lockdown, just for the "unforgivable sin" of you being alive. We didn't get this far in clearing your, and your family's name, just to have you start doubting our intentions again. ...Do you honestly believe we had come all this way, just to have you lose faith again? No. We came here, with the clear purpose of RESTORING your faith."

Naruto adds, with his arms folded, looking pretty annoyed, knowing how big of a brick headed guy Sasuke can be, despite being so smart.

"What she said. Honestly, man. This is pretty ridiculous, don't you think? Here you are, ranting your heart out, for something that's already been done. If what you say is true, then by clear technicality, we've already been marked for death, the moment we decided to shield you from the public scrutiny. No matter the time and place. So... What exactly will your emotional tantrum change now? We have all made up our minds."

Neji, Kiba and Shikamaru step forward. Having their own set of words to share with the Uchiha. With Neji starting out:

"Sasuke... I more than sympathize with your line of thought. More than you realize. For a while, I have felt the exact same way like you do, now. For years on end, I was made to believe I wasn't worth much, the moment I could start thinking for myself. Just mere cannon fodder, fated to die as a meatshield for the Main Branch family. And despite this, someone had dared to risk their life for me... And they were from the Main Branch, too..."

For that, he gazed over Hinata, who could only throw one gentle, peaceful smile at him, nodding in understanding, as he was referring to her. Sure, Hiashi ended up sacrificing his life, in place of hers, but she had made the gesture before him. She was willing to die for Neji, first, in spite of her privileged position. And he continued with a small, but rueful and self-reflective smirk forming on his lips.

"...From that point on, my perspective on life changed completely. And when a certain someone had begun shedding tears for me..."

...Gazing over to Tenten for that one, who was returning with a smile at him, full of yearning, feeling so grateful for his praises, because when he made them, she knew how much he meant it.

"...I realized, I didn't want to survive, or barely scrape by. I wanted to LIVE. There are people in here, who were waiting for me to return, even when everything was speaking against it. I never bore any delusions... ...And yet, a certain blond, annoying knucklehead, had me second-guessing. All this time."

Naruto comically raised a fist, appreciating the words, but pouting at him with a fox-esque slit-eyed glare, calling out:

"Hey! I am still here, y'know!"

Then Kiba gets in, all the while scratching the now old Akamaru behind his ear, showing a rueful, toothy grin.

"Sheesh, dude, I get that you have trust issues, who wouldn't have after everything you went through, but still... Look at me. All this time, I was nothing but a show-off. Always comparing myself to others, always playing the bully, just to hide my insecurities. But back then, before you defected, you and I had an interaction that was stuck with me, ever since. And that is, "Others could be making their 20th step in life, while for you, it's still the 1st step. But that shouldn't be used as a measuring tape for your own growth. Your circumstances, your journey. Make the best with what you are given, and don't use others to make yourself appear taller.". And either way..."

He began smirking, putting both hands behind his head, being super chill about it, too.

"Like, c'mon. You are not just ANYONE. You might be a one-man army, but do you know why? Because you are Sasuke Uchiha, for god's sake! Do you have any idea how many times I, and many others, had wanted to switch places with you? Your coolness? Unmatched. Are you attracting ladies like it's second nature to you? Your charm alone was worth switching places with you, no joke. Your stubbornness in never leaving well-enough alone? Let alone with your hellish, familial circumstances? Just a reminder... If you were a "mistake", by your own words, then let me tell you something: I'll gladly be considered one too, if it means becoming the best version of myself."

Shikamaru, looking cold, but not unkind, had this to share with him, and this was pretty vital.

"Sasuke. In case you didn't realize: No one in this room is living any delusions. We all have, long since made peace with the fact that we had been duped, since our first day at the academy. "The Will of Fire". Honestly, ever since being a Genin, I had never bought into this fanfare of "dying for your motherland", it's just glorified propaganda. And ever since the Uchiha massacre, especially learning through my late old man that he had tried to prevent this catastrophe... Ever since Danzo died by your hand, I couldn't ignore the corruption any longer. I wanted to honor Asuma's sacrifice. He had instilled that same "Will of Fire" within me, and my teammates..."

Choji and Ino share a glance, looking pretty depressed, knowing what he was getting at. And they felt like morons for never having been able to see the bigger picture. And just chose to see Sasuke as the issue, when he never once was. He was only reacting to an action, he wasn't even the trigger. And yet, they fell for it. With Shikamaru most ashamed of himself. He had wanted to blame Sasuke for everything too.

"...And it would have been so much easier, to just denounce you, as you said it yourself, "a mistake". But then I realized, I would have nearly forgotten who I really am... ...I was never the guy for short and easy solutions. I liked playing the slowburn strategy. Made it so much more interesting to see it all unfold. Like you and I playing shogi. You don't make rash decisions, purely driven off of instinct and gut feeling, that's not how strategy works, and yet... For one brief moment, I would have almost betrayed everything that I am, just to be "on the right side of history"... Even I have to say, you Sasuke, were really ahead of the curve. And just that one time, my laziness was not working in my favor. Just that one time, you beat me to the punch. But as we know now, doing the right thing, is never an easy, or quick fix that you do. It's a process."

Sasuke wanted to respond to all this...

Naruto even added, with a big, toothy smile...

"There you have it, you big stubborn jackass. What will it be--"

...but his smile instantly disappeared, Sakura's heart got metaphorically pierced through, and everyone gasped, when they witnessed Koharu, stabbing her golden "Clouds of Heaven" chakra blade, right through Sasuke's gut from behind, barely missing vital organs, but injuring him hard enough to use him as a means of blackmail. And she did it all, with a demonic smirk on her lips.

Sakura's breath quickened, sweat of complete and utter panic ran down her forehead, before throwing a piercing glare at the elders, wanting to heal him up, and Naruto wanted to rush in, to kick the elderly pair away from Sasuke, too...

...but Kakashi and Anko held them back, the Uchiha rights defender stating:

"No, wait...! They are baiting us! This is all too easy! Neji, Hinata, take a look!"

And when they took a closer look, thin, but incredibly strong chakra threads, as verified by Neji and Hinata's Byakugan, were connected to Sasuke, going through his chakra network inside his head, targeting his eyes. The threads are all emanating from the Konoha elders' palms. With Koharu coldly stating:

"My, my, how touching. You all want your precious Uchiha to continue living. Unfortunately for you, you got it all right. He is way smarter than all of you combined. You all want to save him, don't you? You think, his life is still worth something. But the problem is... We cannot allow him to live. The Five Daimyō have grown to have very itchy fingers, while holding the gun in their hands. His existence is too troubling for even the most hardboiled of rulers. He cannot be bought. And he is a rogue shinobi. Not bound by any village. That makes him a threat, you see? "The last of the Uchiha", is a title that cannot be borne with the constant threat of political unrest going down in the capital city..."

Naruto angrily fires at them, his chakra becoming boiling hot with rage, being this close in letting Kurama run rampant again, like the good ol' days, everyone getting ready to back Naruto up:

"Like we care! The Daimyōs have another thing coming, if they truly believe, we are just going to stand there, and watch you jerks comfortably sitting in your armchairs, scratching your nuts, while you sell out part of our family into a circus freakshow, like you have already done here! And you STILL want to tell us, it's all about in the name of "peace"?! BITE ME! "Peace", my ass! You are just looking for an easy way to keep us all restrained like good, little, obedient lap dogs!"

Sakura adds, her eyes growing warm, every muscle in her body telling her to rush over and heal Sasuke up, before he dies on them, the thought making her heart ache with deep-rooted anxiety:

"Everything you do, is betraying the very foundation of what we were trained to do, as shinobi. We fight, so that others don't have to. We defend those who lack the strength and means to stand up for themselves. And what you are doing here, is no different from how a petty thief operates, except, you have already stolen so many innocent souls, while working for a rotten man like Danzo. And yet you still want to convince us, "this is all for the greater good"? Oh, I am sure, you have asked every last Uchiha, even down to the last infant, I'll bet, of whether they are ready to die for the village, or not. You are barbaric, plundering swines...! Nothing else...!"

But Homura wasn't having any of her attitude. He was now proceeding to show how serious they are about wanting to maintain control.

"Maybe, you might be correct about that assumption, my child... But don't forget who you are talking to..."

Then, Sasuke is being badly electrocuted through the chakra threads, connecting to his eyes. He was shrieking in agony, clutching his head tightly, but unable to lay low, because the chains still fixated him in-place. Kakashi and Anko had decided to not immediately destroy them, because they wanted to have the mental upper hand. Giving them a false sense of dominance, just waiting for the right moment to free him, when they least expect it.

Sakura felt her chest tighten even further, instinctively calling out for her beloved. Her lower lip quivering, just wanting to get in and punch their lights out.

"Sasuke!"

But Naruto held her back, because they needed to stay in-control here...

...as Sasuke lies on his back, on the podium, Homura and Koharu stepping back, holding Sasuke hostage now, warning them by saying:

"Get any closer to us, and your dear Uchiha golden boy will be silenced, permanently."

Naruto and Sakura went silent...

...Sakura's eyes obscured by her bangs, and Naruto's, by his headband. Tensions rose to an unprecedented level. And before Kakashi could even think about telling them to stand down, Anko held him back this time. Nodding to him, as in to say, "Let them. This is a long-time coming, dear. Let them bust loose. Just this once. It's what they need. It's what we ALL need.".

Everyone else from the Konoha 11 fell silent, too. As a way to send Naruto and Sakura the message, in unspoken unison: Do it. We got your backs. It's all up to you, now.

Then, slowly, Naruto and Sakura stepped forward, ready to challenge Homura and Koharu head-on, ignoring their warnings, not a single word spoken...

...but when they passed Sasuke, he stopped them, by firmly and desperately clinging his hands to their ankles, his voice coming out strained and emotionally shattered.

"No... Don't do this...! Please, cut the crap, you two, it's not worth it...!"

They both looked down at Sasuke, who had tears forming in the edge of his eyes, but he wouldn't shed them yet. But this wasn't what broke them, too, it was the sheer desperation and dread. Despite the bleeding, still yet to be treated injury, he still had enough strength to raise his voice, wanting everyone to listen.

"Naruto... Sakura... Please... I know what you're thinking, and once you go there, there is no coming back for ANYONE in the room here... I appreciate the thought, I really do, but, don't you understand...?! Even if you are in the right, it ultimately doesn't matter, how any of you feel about me, or what I really want, or what it even means...! It doesn't even matter how I feel about this, nothing that happens in here matters, really... The moment you have set foot in here, was a declaration of war on the rule of the Daimyō...! You talk big now, but will you be able to live with yourselves, knowing that innocent people may get sacrificed again, because of me drawing breath...?! Honestly, are you all mental...?"

Naruto and Sakura couldn't respond. All the words got stuck in their throats. The absolute fright and despair on Sasuke's face is what did it for them, as they both silently began shedding tears as well, because they have never seen Sasuke this vulnerable, even Anko, Kakashi and the rest of the Konoha 11 were shaken up by this site. A usually proud warrior, reduced to having his fighting spirit broken, begging for the mercy and grace of those, who aren't even part of this conflict. They all felt deeply shaken up, and it got worse, the more he spoke, and this time, it was directly to his own teammates...

"Please, you two... You don't have to play protector to a worthless lowlife like myself... Everything that has been done to me here, was nothing else, but me accepting the consequences for my actions... I consciously chose to defect from Konoha... I consciously decided to join Orochimaru... I consciously decided to join the Akatsuki... But worst of all, it was also of my own free will, that I have hurt you both, and endangered all of you, as a direct result of my decision-making... I chose this path, and I am lying in the dirt, because that's exactly where garbage like me frankly belongs..."

Tears gradually ran down Sasuke's face, as his face scrunched up, and his lips became a tight, curled line, as he fought his emotions...

"It's funny... I kept calling you "loser" all my life, Naruto... And yet, look where it really fits now... I weaponized my trauma, just to make you suffer, I kept projecting the worst parts of myself onto you, because I couldn't accept the fact that you saw me as family... I didn't want to be saved, but what I really wanted was to be understood and listened to... You didn't do any of this, but you still cared... And yet, I kept viewing you as the problem... That was just messed up on my part, you also bore hatred, that went unaddressed, because I made it all about myself...! I am sorry..."

Naruto's lower lip curled up, too. As he knew what Sasuke meant. Before even joining the effort of clearing the Uchiha's name in public, he had the suppressed desire to make Sasuke grow dependent on him, so that "his mercy", would mean that everyone else would leave him alone, now that he was the "hero". But he now understands how sick that was to even think. Because Hashirama had done the same thing to Madara, and Naruto felt so ashamed of himself for even having gone there, as it stemmed from his mostly unaddressed trauma of not wanting to be left behind or forgotten. His shoulders shaking, his breathing becoming shallow, and cheeks becoming damp, too, he turns around fully, just to kneel next to Sasuke, and grab his left, bandaged Hashirama-cell-infused prosthetic by the wrist, to tell him that he was listening.

"Sasuke... No, don't apologize, it's ME who has to apologize here... Yeah, you may have hurt me, but what I would have nearly done to you, right after the war, was not right either. I was being an asshole this whole time, too, and even worse, I was too dumb and ignorant to see it...! And all this, because I hated the thought of "being forgotten", and you would have nearly suffered the same fate as Madara... I kept throwing the word "friends" around, without understanding that friendship shouldn't come with conditions and rules, since you were hunted under those exact same set of "rules", like the rest of your clan, and I was too stupid to understand that... I am sorry, Sasuke..."

But the Uchiha had to especially apologize to Sakura, which really broke the dam on her emotions for her. Even worse, with her, Sasuke felt the most heartbroken, because, even with the bridge between them mended, it will never erase the past, and hearing him speak so achingly clear, slowly made her cover her mouth with her right hand, sobbing quietly...

"But Sakura... I... I still cannot seem to grasp how you tick... Even if I had my reasons, I still chose to weaponize my trauma, and make you the target for it, more than once, too... All I did was nothing but dump all the garbage from my life at your doorstep, expecting you to carry it for me... It may have never resulted in anything serious, but the fact... This shouldn't have even happened to begin with...! I chose to leave, I chose to hurt you, and I chose to make your life a living hell... You believed in me, all this time, and how did I repay you...? Nearly killing you, and putting you under Genjutsu... You may forgive me, but for as long as I live, I CAN'T, in good faith, forgive MYSELF...! You love me so much, you keep telling me that it's OK... But look where we are...! You settled for a total screw-up, who never possessed the common courtesy to tell you "I'm sorry", more than "I love you"... All I do is cause you trouble..."

Then Sakura turned, kneeling next to Sasuke, taking his right hand to her face, tearfully giving his knuckle a gentle, loving kiss, her voice all hoarse and eyes all puffy from crying...

"Sasuke, please, don't... I am far from innocent in this story, don't even try to smother me in anything, or twist my words... This whole time, when you were a deserter, I was never smart enough to try and understand to ask the "Why", on how you couldn't stay in the Leaf... I had a hunch, but I never had the brains to ask... I am not as smart as you made me out to be... I am also a moron, just like you and Naruto... But the fact of the matter is, I am not just doing this, because it's the right thing, in the name of your clan and family... I am also doing this, to redeem my street record with you... This whole time, you were suffering under these old geezers, and they would have nearly convinced me, that you were the problem, and not them... I betrayed your faith in me... And for that, I am so sorry, Sasuke... I love you... More than anything, yet all I have done, was weaponize my love to get you to come home, when you never had a home to begin with, least of all here...! The same place that has robbed you of your family and antagonized your entire identity...! I feel so deeply ashamed to have ever claimed that I loved you, when it was unintentional manipulation on my part, never seeing the full picture... You never needed "redemption", Sasuke... You needed someone to listen to you... And I never once began doing that, only once it was already too late... I don't deserve your forgiveness, Sasuke, don't you DARE twisting it... You're nothing short of an angel, and I exploited your feelings for my own gain... That is what's unforgiveable here, not you being alive... Don't even dare saying that... Because you, and your smile, are my strength for living..."

That truly broke Sasuke to the core... Even he couldn't hold back his own sobbing, as he felt surrounded by people who genuinely care about him, and see him as family, one of their own. It made him feel so full and warm in his chest, but it pained him to know that he might be losing all of that, once the Daimyō learned of what has transpired here. He lets go of his teammates' ankles, accepting of their fate now, shouting out...

"You... Idiots... I just can't, with all of you... I am so sorry...! I am sorry...!"

Kakashi and Anko, along with the rest of the Konoha 11, were mourning with their Uchiha comrade, grasping how deep his sadness truly ran. Anko was trying to act tough, but was falling apart in Kakashi's arms, as she sobbed into shoulder. Since she was made the spokesperson for the Uchiha, she knew what she was getting herself into, but she couldn't predict how hard Sasuke's grief would strike her heart.

Ino, Tenten and Hinata were bawling their eyes out, feeling Sakura's pain the hardest, and finally understanding how much Sasuke truly loved his teammates. Rock Lee and Choji were sobbing in silence, and even the most hardboiled of them, Neji, Shino, Kiba (with Akamaru howling) and Shikamaru, could only stare, their eyes becoming warm, just as well.

But this solitary feeling was broken through by Homura and Koharu becoming royally enraged, paired with a deadly kind of calm, Homura is reminding them, untouched by the Uchiha's collective grieving in that moment:

"It would seem that you have no idea what is currently at stake here. All of you just get on my nerves with that sentimental nonsense. Fine, then you shall all join your favorite Uchiha in the afterlife, along with the rest of his kin--"

But then, Naruto and Sakura shifted protectively in front of Sasuke...

...and what Koharu and Homura saw, made them feel unnerved. Especially the elderly woman, her forehead veins pumping, her glare growing more intense:

"What is the meaning of this, you two...? You can't be serious...!"

Naruto and Sakura were both bearing an emotionless, but intense, soulless stare, as they returned on their feet, and gradually began approaching the elderly rulers, not a word spoken, as their strong rights were gathering chakra, in silence. Even with Homura firing off multiple Bat Daggers from the shadows, they both dodged it without moving too many muscles.

Everyone else was back to locking all-in, wiping their eyes drying, with Sakura giving Ino a brief nod to remind her what she needs to do. Immediately when they are down, she needs to get in, and close Sasuke's wound up. She will do the rest, later. Ino nodded, to assure her that she remembered.

Koharu shouted, her golden chakra blade gleaming:

"Hey! What did we say earlier?! I will not repeat myself, your Uchiha is going to die, if you get any closer to us!"

And Homura shouts back:

"We will do it! Don't come any closer!"

He fires off more Bat Daggers...

...but Naruto and Sakura dodged them, no problem. Not even entering any special chakra modes or anything. Dodging, as if their bodies have begun doing the thinking for them...

...and then they gasped in fear, once they got really close, and threw one fully charged punch, right in their faces, breaking through their dense chakra body shield. Naruto punches Homura on the right, and Sakura punches Koharu on the left. Two pillars of age-old hatred and unburied resentment, as Naruto and Sakura let out one gnarly battle cry, filled with rage at the fate that the Uchiha and Sasuke have been dealt. Their strong rights were so powerful, it sent them flying through multiple pillars of rock...

...and then, Naruto and Sakura scoffed, and spat to the side, telling them coldly, in perfect synchronization:

"Demented coffin dodgers, go to hell, you assholes!"

And there were Homura and Koharu, comically twitching, eyes blank from terror and shock, their thirds now missing, looking dusty, and badly beaten up, with one singular punch to the face having done the job. Their dense chakra network protection may have prevented worse wounds from hitting them, but they are incapacitated, regardless. Too injured to move any longer.

Anko, without hesitation, gives Ibiki a ringer, to put these two old bags in lockdown. He can do with them, whatever pleases him, they are all his. And before hanging up, Ibiki says, the smirk being felt through the phone:

"...I have never felt as proud to be part of this village, as I am now. I always wanted to piss on the elders' royal property. These asswipes have been riding on their high horse for way too long."

And Anko adds with a wicked, toothy smile:

"Well, NOW you shall get your chance."

Kakashi drags the elderly pair away from there, with Tenten activating a parachute system that she has built herself, to drag all the mercenaries straight to the next best jail cell in Konoha. Easy as pie for her.

After Ino had managed to close up Sasuke's wound, with Anko and Kakashi having sliced his chains up to free him, Sakura and Naruto helps Sasuke walk to the hospital...

Later, after cleaning him up with hospital wash gloves, disinfecting his open wounds, closing them up with her healing nin-jutsu, applying lotion and bandages to his raw wrists, and providing him with a warm heat patch to mend his strained backside, caused by endless hours of standing up in chains, alongside bandages around the area where he got stabbed...

...she gently helps him lay down, putting the blanket over him, knowing he must be sleep-deprived, needing serious rest. And she did it all so tentatively and lovingly, so much so, it made the Uchiha, with his chakra-restraining eye-patch back over his Rinnegan, look at girlfriend with an aching longing. He comments in a strained voice, as Sakura took off her gloves to sit down, and intertwine her fingers with his right ones:

"You really lost your mind, you know that...? Attacking the elders like that, you and Naruto... This WILL rain consequences down on us, and I don't mean the H2O kind... Once the Daimyōs learn about this, we are in for a world of hurt... ...Why didn't you just leave me there? You could have continued to live on, without my existence weighing all of you down--"

She silences him, with a finger over his lips, as Tsunade's best student tells him, leaning in closer, with both hands then cupping his head from both sides:

"Stop saying that. You're not weighing down ANYONE, Sasuke, you never did. You only tell yourself that, because of generational trauma. Nothing else. These shriveled, old raisins are byproducts of an era, where hatred for the Uchiha clan was nothing short of normalized and accepted, that's why, you don't know any better. And even with you defecting back then, try looking at it this way: If you hadn't done so, neither of us would have made progress as shinobi. Don't you always look for negatives, try to look on the bright side. You made me a stronger fighter, no, a stronger person, Sasuke. As messed up as it may sound to you. But it's the truth. And if the original Sasuke Retrieval team were here, they would have told you the same thing. Sometimes, you need suffering and heartbreak to grow stronger, more resilient, that isn't exclusive to the Uchiha."

He averted his sole visible eye, being this close to crying again, his lips curling onto itself, trembling, unable to take this much affection from a girl he had tormented with his decisions...

"But Sakura... How can you say all this, and not feel even remotely idiotic...? I. Have. HURT YOU. In ways, that would have made anyone give up, on the fly... I leave you hanging, I nearly kill you, TWICE, and then, for good measure, I even stuff you in Genjutsu... How. Can you say. Any of this. AND NOT SOUND INSANE...?!?!"

The poor lad couldn't take it, he was perpetually in her mercy, but he cannot even celebrate or feel good about it, because he knew what awaited them. Tears stained his cheeks one more time, and soon, Sakura joined in, except, silently, because watching her beloved Uchiha being this broken in his fighting spirit, was heart wrenching to her. She had never seen him defeated.

"I have already been there, Sakura, I stood up to these assholes, and look where that got me! It's over. Don't you understand? The feudal lords will catch wind of all this, and then they will stop at nothing, until I draw my last breath, and everyone here, down to the very last child, is going down with me, whether we want to or not...! You should have just let me die, Sakura, back at the Valley of the End, then all your lives would be a thousand times better WITHOUT ME! It doesn't matter what you, me, or everyone else thinks, it is a fact, that you have all been marked for death now, and it's all on me. I have lost the battle, before it even started, or even understood what was really going on, it doesn't matter anymore! It's over, they have won, even if they lost, because the system favors them! Why did you think it was a good idea to stand up for a complete failure like me? A failure, who has ruined your life! My conscience will continue to be haunted by the very tears that you have wasted on a waste of breath like myself, just...!"

He firmly, yet tentatively grasped her wrists, wanting her to let go of him, and just leaving him be.

"Just... Give up, Sakura... Stop it, there is no reason to fight any longer--"

But then, she silences his tirade immediately, with a kiss. Her lips, interlocking with his, breaking free from his grip, running her hands lovingly through his hair, even kicking off her sandals to climb onto his bed, her body warming his, not wanting him to continue his self-pity party, and just focusing on her and her alone. The sound of her heartbeat, and the feel of her hands, caressing his scalp and skin with so much care, it could make anyone's heart wrench, at the mere sight of it. Her pink hair being a bit of a blanket to obscure his face from both sides.

And once they parted, her face still damp, carefully letting her thumbs caress his cheeks, she tells him:

"Sasuke... I get why everything appears so hopeless to you, right now. Trust me, I do. But please, don't say things like "You should have let me die", or "You should have let me rot in that basement". You may not see it just yet, but we all have suffered under the rule of the elders. Your case isn't unique, considering what Neji and Hinata had to endure, because of the council. How people like me, Tenten and Rock Lee were viewed as "cannon fodder", all because of our lack of clan connections. Hell, Tenten's inventions have garnered unwanted attention by the elders, due to how many clans felt increasingly restless for how much her contributions challenged the authority of the clan elders. Or Naruto, and his case doesn't need elaboration, purely because of him being a jinchuriki. Kakashi-sensei lost his father to suicide, because the elders refused to provide emotional, or financial compensation to him, because of his father's action having negatively affected the village's reputation. And Anko-sensei was consistently held at razor's edge, because of her connection to Orochimaru... ...and yet, she made the choice to speak in defence and honor, of your, and your clan's name. Look alive. We are all ready to stand by you. We will never leave you hanging, again. Especially me."

She wiped her eyes dry, and then teasingly nibbles on his earlobe, saying with a playful smile:

"Also, c'mon. Don't give me an attitude. You are Sasuke Uchiha, when has it ever stopped you to break the rules on the regular, to make a ball start rolling? Besides, why didn't you ever tell me that you were the one to free the prisoners at Orochimaru's lab?"

His eyes widened, knowing immediately, who might have told her, but needing confirmation first.

"How... Do you know this?"

"Oh, a redhead with glasses let me know. Karin was her name. She was gushing about how awesome you were, even with her disdain for what you did on that bridge, after the Five Kage Summit. She was a chaotic tidal wave of emotions, just like Naruto. But either way..."

She leans in, her lips hovering barely above his, gently telling him:

"...Sasuke. I don't blame you for having a tough time trusting anyone, especially after years of having been fed nothing but lies. But even with the Daimyōs' wrath... Do you really plan on just giving up? You wanted justice for your clan, and all the innocent people, who were senselessly sacrificed, ending up on a butcher table for someone like Orochimaru to dissect and steal their abilities for himself. Now is your chance? We are all right behind. You're no longer fighting alone, Sasuke... What will it be? As for me... Even if we fail, there is no place where I'd rather be in, than in the arms of a man... ...whom I love with all my heart. You came back to me, and paid for the crimes you committed, specifically against me, so... I'll gladly... Be your ride-or-die..."

And then, she kissed him again...

...and this time, Sasuke gave in. Pretty much telling her "OK, I will think about it", by having his arms snake tightly around her back. And for one brief moment, the world was beginning to make sense again for the Uchiha. He still called this absolute madness, but these shinobi have risked their necks for him, both in his absence, and especially today. And they are willing to fight for him, and with him...

...All of a sudden, he began to understand Naruto even more now. When you have people backing you up, the load becomes easier to carry. And now, he might be ready to believe again...

THE END

Author's Note:

- For anyone who caught on, yes, this story IS connected to "Mending the Bridge", which is why it gets mentioned, this is also, a story for #sasusakumonth2025 (for anyone wanting to catch up, here you go: ~Mending the Bridge~ )

- This entire story is inspired by that scene here from One Piece, where Hachi got shot at by a Celestial Dragon, causing Luffy to go on a quiet, collected rampage, punching this asshole's face back to the drawing board, what Naruto and Sakura is, let's be honest, we have all been wanting to see that happen in the canon story

- In this timeline, Neji Hyuga is alive

- Might Guy (died fighting Madara, using the Gate of Death), Yamato, Sai and Hiashi Hyuga, are deceased

- Orochimaru is still a villain, he hasn't returned to the village, alongside Kabuto, they were not granted anything, they are still seen as dangerous, as they should

- If you wonder how Sasuke even landed in this situation, someone had posed as Sakura, and spiked his drink, making him believe he was safe, and then bam, he landed in the basement of the Uchiha compound

- And yes, this is a story, in which the Konoha 12 are all aware, how evil the council really is, and now, we are at the point, where it's boiling over

- Anko Mitarashi has become the core spokesperson for the Uchiha clan, because she loves them, and because she is born BASED, she had no issues going to the Five Kage Summit to remind all of them, about how much they enabled her former sensei into kidnapping children, paying him off, behind closed doors, and asking, "Will you be able to look in the mirror and ask yourself, "Was it really necessary to kill babies, to ensure the so-called """"greater good"""" that you speak of?".

- You know it's serious, when even Shikamaru, the guy who has been literally MOLDED to carry on the "Will of Fire", states that, "it's just hot air, not a flame"

- Homura represents the "Gentle Darkness" & Koharu represents the "Light of Justice", and that corrupted, and deluded way of looking at themselves in that way, reflects in their abilities, too

Also, Sasuke's left arm is restored her, he has it back

All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto

AO3 - Mending the Bridge

AO3 - Justice for the Uchiha Clan (Blank Period - Rewrite)