24 Returning Back To The Leaf

Another week had passed after which the bridge had finally been complete. We were standing at the entrance of the bridge which was surrounded by the villagers. "Thanks to you the bridge was safely completed ,"

"But we will miss you very much" Tazuna said being thankful to Team 7. "Take care" Tsunami said. "Thank you for everything" Kakashi smiled back. "Now, now. We'll come back for a visit again, Old man Tazuna!" Naruto reassured. "Really?" Inari asked almost wanting to cry.

"Inari!, You're gonna miss us aren't you?" "It's all right to cry. Go ahead and cry!" Naruto encouraged almost crying himself. "Its All Right!" Tazuna stepped in as he patted Inari's head upon which Inari started to cry, while Naruto had turned back and cried a bit as well and we left.

Meanwhile, "That boy changed Inari's mind, and Inari changed the mind of the people. That boy created a bridge linking us to hope, A bridge called courage." Tazuna said as he watched the team's departing backs. "Speaking of bridges, we need to name this bridge, don't we?" A man in the crowd asked. "Thats true. In that case, I have a perfect name for this bridge." Tazuna said "Yeah, what is it?" the villagers asked."The Great Naruto Bridge!? How's that?" Tazuna asked. "That's a good name isn't it?" Tsunami asked. "We couldn't have thought of a more fitting name " The villagers smiled as they looked towards the team's disappearing silhouette. "And someday, it'll be the name of a very famous bridge. A name heard around the world. That's truly what I hope." Tazuna said.

Back at the Hokage's office, the third Hokage heard a knock. "Come in" Hiruzen said. A man with white hair appeared "Kakashi" he called. "I am here to report some details on the C-Rank mission you had given." said Kakashi. "C-Rank?" Hiruzen was surprised. "Usually I would not even accept reviewing a B-Rank work immediately, but since it is you, I am pretty sure that you have a very reasonable explanation to your appearance here." stated hiruzen. "Yes. regarding the mission, it was completed successfully, but there are some details that I am want to explain." said Kakashi. "You can start by explaining everything in order " Stated Hiruzen. "Okay So the mission." Kakashi explained everything he had seen from start to finish.

"Hmmm. All right you are dismissed, also I would like to reward you some extra money as a compensation since this mission was a B-Rank mission instead of a C-Rank." said Hiruzen. "Thank you" Kakashi bowed and then left the office. Meanwhile Hiruzen sat down as he contemplated deeply, 'Sasuke's changed huh, I hope it's a good change. sigh.

The next day, I walked towards the spot where me and the team were supposed to meet. Sakura and Naruto were already waiting by the time I arrived at the small bridge. About an hour later.

"Well...Good Morning, everyone..." gteeted Kakashi.

'Oh boy, here we go again' Naruto and Sakura thought. I just smiled knowing what they were thinking. "Today, I got lost on the path of life." Kakashi started giving excuses only to be struck down by Sakura's glare. "Ahem" Kakashi coughed. "Today we have to do a bunch of D-Rank missions." Kakashi said. "D-Rank?" We stared at Kakashi. About a few missions later. During the river clean-up, I stared at Naruto picking up trash from the water as he threw it to the bin at his back using tweezers.

Sakura was also picking up trash nearby, meanwhile Kakashi was up on the tree reading his novel. Later, The three of us and Kakashi were looking at each other as Kakashi said. "Perhaps we should disperse. I do need to submit a report about this mission." After Kakashi left, Sakura walked over to me as she asked "Hey, Sasuke, how about…. Why don't you and I …. Why don't we work on improving our teamwork together?" I turned towards Sakura as I contemplated a bit before saying "You wanna go on a date with me right?"

Sakura looked down being shy. I shook my head and said "Fine. Where do you want to go?" Sakura raised her head happily and said "wherever you take me Sasuke with a smile." I looked at Naruto and asked "What about you Naruto?" Naruto said "I'll go and train some. I don't want to get in between you two." and walked away. I started thinking. 'Naruto's thinking has become a lot mature suddenly. Must be because I told him all the screts pertraining him.'

Sakura snapped me out of my thoughts when she called "Sasuke". I looked at her and said "Ok. Let's go" and we started walking around the village. I took her to Yakiniku-Q and we had a nice meal. There was no issues of money for me as I had the Uchiha clan's savings which I got from the bank. I was always also helping Naruto by giving him some money as his allowance provided by the Hokage was barely enough for him to stay healthy.

Then I spoke to Sakura "Sakura, we need to change Naruto's style. Sakura thought for a moment and asked "What do you mean by that Sasuke?" I looked at her & smiled saying "Naruto needs a girlfriend, but I don't think he will get one looking like a light bulb wearing that orange jumpsuit and that spiky hair". Sakura thought for a bit and replied "Yes. He doesn't look cool in that orange suit. Its loks more like screaming 'I'm here look at me' and girls dont like that".

I looked at her smiling and asked her " Will you help me on this Sakura?" She just nodded and said "Of course Sasuke, do you even need to ask, I will help you on everything." I just replied "Good. Thank you Sakura. I owe you one." Then I paid the bill for our meal and started walking through the village to find Naruto.