CHAPTER 33: We Have a Marina Trench in Our Apartment

Upon returning to the trio's humble abode, Sasuke was abandoned by the two to do housework, and when they finally returned he felt a familiar whiff of chakra attack his senses. He turned around to see who it was and saw her. Sakura in her red kunoichi outfit, along with Kurama's indifferent yet annoyed look and Naruto's sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Naruto slowly met Sasuke's gaze and noticed his look of surprise. A soft smile etched on his face. He tried to speak but his breath hitched, so he coughed a little bit before clearing his throat.

"Hi, Sasuke...." he paused for a moment before continuing. "We found her."

Sasuke dropped the bowl he was holding and allowed it to crash land on the floor. Naruto, Sakura, and even Kurama were surprised by his actions but before they could regain composure, Sasuke disappeared from hindsight and then appeared in front of Sakura the next second with a raised hand.

He stared at her for a while as if observing her, just to know if she was real or not because he has been searching for her for days, weeks all in the name of a mission that he didn't care much about. It was a good excuse to cover up his insecurities and fears. He only wanted to see his best friend again. His comrade. His family. His sister.

After some time, Naruto and Kurama watched Sasuke's odd behavior. They had a couple of theories as to why he acted this way. One, he finally fell for her only to realize she didn't belong to him, or two, he's just too speechless to speak, think, and move.

Naruto was about to tap on Sasuke's shoulders but then he heard a very nasty, loud slap echo throughout the room. He froze and saw Sasuke's hand near Sakura's swollen red cheeks that had a distinctive red hand mark slabbed across it.

He could hear Kurama's snickers that he didn't bother hiding and when his mind finally pieced things together, he knew exactly what was happening.

Sasuke Uchiha bitch slaps Sakura Haruno and he could already guess why. Making sure she was real and not a clone.

Naruto visibly facepalms and sighs, wondering if his brother became stupider than the last time he saw him. He grumbles and crosses his arms as he watches Sasuke retracts his hand and what he said next didn't surprise him but made Sakura, very angry.

"Sorry." he motionlessly said. "Just checking to see if you were real or not." At this point, Kurama just bursts out laughing. 'I thought you hated him.' Naruto asked Kurama using the mental link that they shared.

'Aren't you supposed to be angry or scolding the Uchiha for hitting that woman no girl, since you're such a simp?' he retorts. Naruto groans as he instantly remembers the past.

'That was before Hinata!' He said in an attempt to defend himself.

'Right, because you never knew she existed till she decided to upgrade herself.' he said and he could feel Naruto's scowl from a mile away.

'Fuck you.'

'Hahaha!'

'You know...the fact that you're bickering with me, kind of means you're admitting that you don't hate the Uchiha's as much as before.' Kurama chuckles grimly.

'Don't get me wrong Kit. I still hate and despise those bloody Uchiha's for life,' he replied with underlining venom which inwardly caused Naruto to shiver. 'But...I hate this woman as well.' he continued before immediately cutting off the link.

This made Naruto wonder what he meant by that. Until Sakura's familiar roar and the thunderous sound of her wall cracking punch brought him back to reality.

He saw Sakura slam-dunking Sasuke to the ground. Sending him a one-way ticket back to hell. The hole in the ground would need a lot of explaining to do.

In all honesty, Naruto and Kurama didn't want to explain how and why Sasuke would end up in the hospital the very next day. That is if they can get him out.

The hole was as deep as the marina trench but the outlines or size of the hole is as big as an ordinary door frame. Literally.

Fortunately, they didn't need to find the dead body, he appeared before them just when Naruto and Sakura were about to jump in to find him. With no plan, whatsoever.

He showed up with dislocated joints, arms, and legs. He looked dead already.

"Sakura... you're a bitch." we're his last words before fainting.

Naruto sprints to his side to catch him so that he doesn't fall back into the hole. That would've been disastrous.

"Now, what?" asked Naruto.

"Use some earth jutsu to clean it up. That should work," Kurama suggested with sarcasm, which made Sakura sweatdrop.

"Well, it's not like I haven't thought about it but...do you have any idea how big this hole is?" said Sakura as her face deadpans.

"Yeah."

"My reserve right now isn't that big so..."

"Just fuse it with Naruto and yourself. It could give you a major power boost." Kurama said cutting her off, which made her angry but she didn't know where this sudden boost of ego came from. 'Emlyn?' was what came to mind, but she immediately pushed that aside, since she never talked about an orange fox who also had nine tails like her.

"I mean that could work but...I don't know how to do that...yet..." Sakura said, as she tried to humble herself but she indirectly made her voice strained, which was immediately noticed by Naruto and Kurama, but Kurama didn't look surprised at all. Instead, he scoffs before becoming dangerously calm and quiet.

"You mean, that woman hasn't taught you anything?" Kurama's voice was terrifyingly low as his eyes looked straight into her as if he was speaking to someone else. Again, the name 'Emlyn' crossed her thoughts, but she didn't want to believe that her past self would hide something from her. They were two parts of one whole. They were both the same people who were just born at different times and places.

But she began having second thoughts as his piercing stare became more daunting. The aura he exuded was dominating and suffocating. He's upset but both didn't know why.

"Calm down...Kurama," Naruto said, stepping in before the situation gets out of hand. After hearing Naruto's firm yet gentle command, Kurama instantly calmed down as if his warlike stare down and consultation didn't happen.

Both calmed down, but they still kept their guards up, for understandable reasons. Naruto wants to find out why Kurama acted the way he did so that he could help him be a lot more open to forgiveness. He has been a little more forgiving towards a certain Uchiha but he would never forgive 'That Uchiha'.

Sakura, on the other hand, tried to contact Emlyn but she remained quiet, and even if she did try to meet her, the aura around her felt hollow, cold and gut-wrenchingly sad that she knew she need some time alone. So she refrained. Instead, she tried to focus on healing a black-haired bastard, to distract herself from the tense situation.