Sakura had him walk around for a while after the jutsu was finished. The bruise had decreased and faded to what was known in layman's terms as 'the ugly yellowish-brown stage.' It would be gone in less than an hour. Sasuke was moderately impressed that she'd become so skilled in just a few years.

But only moderately. He'd always known that Sakura was talented at chakra manipulation; he'd just never seen her do anything about it.

They had walked around the courtyard surrounding the Hokage tower, and were just returning to it when Tsunade and Kakashi came out, bringing Naruto with them. The blond was moving unsteadily, like he'd been drugged. Tsunade had her arm over his shoulders, and Sasuke suspected that Naruto would be swaying if she weren't there to steady him.

"There you are, Sakura," Tsunade said. "We're done here."

"Okay," she replied, before walking up to Naruto. She knelt down slightly in order to be able to look up at him, and said with a smile that Sasuke could hear in her voice, "Hey, Naruto, it's me--Sakura-chan!"

Naruto blinked at her.

Sakura moved a bit to the side and motioned to him. Sasuke took a few steps forward, not understanding the situation, and Naruto's eyes shifted him. Sakura went on, still cheerful. "And that's--"

"Sasuke?"

Naruto's voice was as hazy as his gaze. Sasuke didn't know why everyone looked surprised when the blond spoke, but he didn't like it.

Sakura shook her head faintly, and then nodded. "Yep! Sasuke's back, remember?"

". . . cool," Naruto said, blinking again. He closed his eyes a moment later, squeezing them shut, and pressed a hand against his temple. "There was something . . . I was . . . before. . . . Shit."

"It's okay," Sakura said. "You'll probably remember in a while. You're just hungry."

"I am?"

"Yeah!" she said. "Remember, you're having dinner with me and Lee tonight, and you said you weren't going to eat so that you wouldn't ruin the taste of my cooking with that awful ramen."

Naruto tilted his head slightly. ". . . I like ramen."

Sakura put a hand on her hip and mock-glared at him. "You like my cooking more."

"Oh." He nodded, and then frowned. "Are you sure? I don't think so. . . ."

"You do to," Sakura snapped. Then she slipped an arm through Naruto's. "Come on, we're going to be late." She looked up at Tsunade. The woman nodded.

"Okay," Naruto said, and let Sakura lead him out towards the street. A man in a long cloak stood up from the edge of the courtyard and began to follow several dozen feet behind them.

". . . What happened?" Sasuke asked, watching as Sakura, Naruto, and the anbu walked away.

"It's a side effect of the ward," Tsunade said clinically. "Until he adjusts to the suppression it puts on him, he's disoriented and has a hard time recognizing anyone who isn't highly familiar to him." She was quiet for a moment, and watched as Sakura struggled to keep Naruto from swaying so much that he crashed into any of the other passerby.

When the two teenagers were obscured by a scaffold in front of a damaged building, Tsunade continued. "You're not being placed under anbu guard, because we need all we have. Kakashi has agreed to have you stay with him. I don't want you to go out in public without either him or someone else trustworthy--for your own good as well as for everyone's peace of mind. If you have any objections, I don't care."

She turned and walked away. Sasuke gave the minimum required bow and thank you before looking back to the spot where Sakura and Naruto had disappeared from view.

Kakashi stood there with him for half a minute. When Sasuke hadn't moved, the man looked at him and said, "He'll be okay tomorrow. And he'll be fine by the end of the week."

"Why was Sakura lying about all that stuff with dinner?"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Well, the other side effect is that he seems to have mental fights with the fox demon whenever he has to readjust, and it can carry over out of his sleep. He's not so . . . destructive if he wakes up in a place he knows with people he recognizes. And Lee is capable of holding his own in a fight long enough for the anbu to show if something goes wrong."

Sasuke said nothing, and when the man looked over, he noticed that the teenager's hands were clenched into fists. Kakashi looked away again. "Naruto was probably aware of the consequences before the rest of us were."

Sasuke tensed slightly before shoving his hands into his pockets. "That idiot."

Kakashi glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "He made his choice of how to live. You should at least respect that."

Sasuke tensed more, but looked at the ground and said nothing.

Kakashi waited for several more long seconds, but the teenager remained silent. Finally, he turned to the left and began to walk toward the street.

"Did she give you a choice about guarding me?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi paused, and, still facing the street, said, "Yes."

He started walking again, and heard Sasuke's footsteps following behind him.

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