And So the Blossom Withers

Chapter 31: Chasing the Clouds

There was a heavy silence in the room as they all stared at Sasuke with wide eyes. They waited for him to tell them it was a joke but from the look of Sasuke's expression they knew it wasn't. Sasuke was as shocked as they all were. When his eyes met hers he saw red, at first he thought it was his mind playing tricks on him, but he would recognize those eyes anywhere.

Those were the same eyes he had. He had seen the three tomoes in the sharingan spinning as petals started to swirl around her before she disappeared. The sight of her red eyes had left him frozen in place, unable to move.

"Are you sure of what you're saying?" Tsunade was the first to speak, she already knew the answer to the question but he nodded anyways. She shook her head in disbelief. "But how could that be?" She asked to no one in particular, Sasuke was wondering the same thing.

His attention then turned to Kakashi. "Have any ideas?" The gray haired ninja shook his head.

"I don't know much about the sharingan Sasuke. If you who have access to the information on your compound don't know the answer, what makes you think I will?" Kakashi frowned and Sasuke had to admit he was right. "How many?" He then asked.

"She had both eyes and she activated them." Sasuke told Kakashi who scratched his head in response.

"So it isn't a transplant." Kakashi sighed, if it had been things would have been easier to explain, they only needed to know where she got the eyes. Now they were back at cero with no clue whatsoever.

"Sakura can't have the sharingan then; maybe your mind was playing tricks on you." Naruto finally spoke and Sasuke felt the sudden urge to punch him. It was easy to be in denial when he wasn't the one to face her, when he wasn't the one who looked into her eyes.

"I know what I saw." Sasuke snapped in anger.

"Sure you do, first you see her kill a man and claim she's a criminal and now you claim she stole your precious sharingan. Next you'll be saying she has a tailed beast inside her too." Naruto responded frustrated and Sasuke whirled around to glare at the blonde.

"Shut up!" He ordered his hands balling into fist at Naruto's words.

"Look, if you don't care about her then that's fine, you don't have to go making up stories. Just say so and you're officially relived of the responsibility of having to bring her back home."

Sasuke took Naruto's words as a special offense because he didn't want to be relived; he wanted her back even if she were a criminal. Losing his temper at last Sasuke threw a punch Naruto's way and Naruto reacted as well doing the same. Just in time Kakashi appeared between them to stop them from punching each other.

"Stop making a scene, both of you!" Kakashi threw a glare at both Naruto and Sasuke before letting them go and stepping back. They had their hands at their sides balled up into fist and instead of fighting they settled with glaring at each other.

Sasuke was mad at Kakashi for stepping in the way. He wanted to punch Naruto, he wanted to let his frustrations escape and couldn't care less that it meant a fight with his teammate.

"I don't want fights between the two of you, do you understand?" The Hokage spoke authority clear on her voice but neither Sasuke nor Naruto turned to her. "One problem coming from either of you and I won't let you leave the village." She threatened capturing both the boy's attention.

"You can't keep me here." Naruto muttered loud enough for Tsunade to hear.

She raised an eyebrow. "Wanna bet?" Sasuke could see the look on her face, the one that said not to mess with her. "I advise you, no, the both of you, not to try my patience." Sasuke knew there was a threat in her words and from the corner of his eye he could see that Naruto understood it as well.

Kakashi sighed and Sasuke turned to glare at him, the gray haired ninja paid him no mind. "Okay, back to the matter at hand." He passed a hand through his hair before turning to Sasuke. "Do you have any theories as to why she might possess the sharingan?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I thought you would know, but if you say it isn't a transplant…" He trailed off.

"Don't take my word for it, I haven't heard of any other transplanted sharingan but that doesn't mean there isn't. Maybe hers is a transplant and maybe because of her good chakra control she can activate it and deactivate it at will or her transplant was more effective." Sasuke knew Kakashi didn't really believe what he was saying; he was just throwing ideas out in the open, hoping to land upon a conclusion.

"Let's go with your crazy idea," Naruto spoke with an aggravated sigh. "if that supposed sharingan is a transplant, then where did she get it from? As far as I know there are only two Uchiha's left and that's you and your brother." Sasuke had to admit Naruto had a point… unless she had defeated Itachi.

With wide eyes he turned to Kakashi and he didn't have to say anything for him to understand, he shook his head. "Itachi's alive, there's been rumors of sighting near Sound, but whether it's actually him or just another clone we don't know."

"Do you actually think Haruno Sakura could defeat Uchiha Itachi?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow and when she asked it that way just the thought of it seemed ridiculous.

"I don't think so, but she certainly wasn't the same Sakura that left the village. The ground split apart at our feet and I can almost guarantee you she was the cause of it." He was sure of it and to think Sakura was capable of such power… it made him wonder how much she had really changed.

"He's right about that…" Naruto spoke a frown taking over his expression. "I don't know if it was her, but the way the earth split apart…it reminded me of the way you fight, granny." Sasuke remained frozen for a moment before he turned to Tsunade. Naruto had a point, he's only seen Tsunade fight once and he did remember how her strength had the power to break huge boulders as if they were pebbles. "Could it be…?" Naruto trailed off staring at Tsunade in suspicion.

"Stop looking at me like that." She snapped. "My only apprentice has always been Shizune, I have never even seen your former teammate, I think I would have remembered someone with pink hair." She scoffed.

"Let's go back to the matter at hand." Kakashi reminded again capturing everyone's attention. "There are only two known ways of getting the Sharingan, either you're born with the genes to awaken it or it's a transplant. The only two remaining Uchiha's are alive."

"What are you trying to say Kakashi?" Sasuke asked, there was a hint of anger in his voice, Kakashi couldn't be insinuating what he thought he was.

"What if it isn't a transplant?" The question hanged in the air as silence filled the room. He didn't have to say it outright, Naruto and Tsunade knew what Kakashi was trying to say and Sasuke could just stare at Kakashi as if he'd grown another head.

"You're crazy." Naruto spoke while Sasuke only glared at the gray haired ninja.

"I have to agree with Naruto on this one, Kakashi." Tsunade agreed Kakashi just shrugged. He continued looking at Kakashi expecting an explanation, anything, but receiving none.

"Do you know what you're insinuating?" Sasuke finally asked his tone of voice barely concealing the anger. Kakashi nodded, his expression serious, he wasn't joking and that only served to anger Sasuke further. "Your theory it's ridiculous. She's a Haruno, both her parents are."

"What other explanation is there, Sasuke?" Kakashi's asked.

"It could be an experiment, a successful one at that." Sasuke said, wanting to convince everyone in the room as well as himself. It seemed as a logical explanation, many wanted the sharingan so experiments like that being conducted wouldn't surprise him. But what he saw seemed so real he had trouble believing his new theory.

"That is a possibility. It could be an experiment of Orochimaru and maybe that's why he wanted you in the chunin exams, but it could also be an Akatsuki experiment, they have Itachi after all." Tsunade thought the idea through and he could see as Kakashi and Naruto relaxed, but he didn't.

"That seems like more reasonable justification; she couldn't possibly be an Uchiha. I think the leaf should investigate more on this matter, if the sharingan can be artificially created and implanted it could present a problem in the future." Kakashi spoke and Tsunade nodded in response.

Sasuke tried to listen but his mind was far away. Her eyes and her red stare were etched into his mind and all possibilities scared him. He had to figure it out; he needed to know the truth and he needed to know it now. The truth behind it could lead him to the answer he's been searching for since she left the village. Why did she leave?

"Sasuke, did you listen to what the Hokage just said?" Kakashi asked raising an eyebrow as Sasuke shook his head in response. "She said that she'll send a team to investigate if the Akatsuki is after this. And I know that you both want nothing more than to bring her back…but you have to begin to consider that maybe she isn't going to come back."

"We'll bring her back no matter what!" Naruto exclaimed in an instant, but Sasuke let Kakashi's word sink in carefully considering his words.

Kakashi was right, if she left the village, she must have had her reasons whatever those were. If she hadn't come back after all these years, then why would she now? He needed to know the reasons behind her leaving, he needed answers, but knowing wouldn't bring her back. "Even if you have to force her?" Sasuke spoke out loud surprising everyone in the room, most of all himself. It wasn't a question directed just at Naruto but also at himself.

"Yes!" Naruto replied anger once again taking over his features. His expression making it clear that there was no arguing that fact with him.

Would they be able to force her back? To force her to be in a place she might not want to be? Sasuke didn't want to ponder those questions fearing the answer.

"If she doesn't want to come back then so be it." Sasuke shook his head and with a last look at Naruto's shocked expression he turned and left the office closing the door loudly behind him.

He knew Naruto he would not give up until he had her back in the village, but would that be for the better? He didn't know. There was a time back then when Sasuke contemplated the idea of leaving, of searching for revenge on his own but then she left and then main goal was put on a halt replaced by another, getting her back.

Now, he could only wonder if it was time to give up on her?

He shook the thought from his mind. He wanted answers and only then would he consider giving up on her, only then would he know if he's just wasted his time all these years.

A/N:

Firstly let me start by thanking everyone who reviewed in the last chapter. You have no idea how good it makes me feel. I'm not a writer I'm an artist and I suck at writing so that people like whta I do for a hobby makes me want to keep doing it.

I know I took a long time with this chapter and although I'm very sorry for that you do have to understand that this is my hobby not my work and even though I will not drop any stories sometimes I don't have enough time to write or I don't have inspiration for a certain story.

Anyway, please do let me know what you think of the story so far. I'm actually beginning to feel worried about how the next chapter is going to be received. Any thoughts, comments, or just whatever you want to say leave it below. And if you have any predictions feel free to share. ;)

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