Trying Harder
Naruto remembers once reading something on a poster on the blackboard wall of Iruka-sensei's classroom. It took him a while to piece together as he was still going through the learning process of reading, but once he finally deciphered its words, he found something that perfectly described his own work ethic.
Just because something is difficult doesn't mean you shouldn't try. It means you should just try harder.
He bears this in mind as he continues to build up chakra and sets it to 'whirl'. Over and over and over again, each time as it becomes harder and harder to do, he simply adds more effort, more determination, more resolve. And then when he finally collapses from exhaustion, he struggles to stand back up, but he does anyway, and gathers his chakra in the palm of his hand, blue energy swirling like a typhoon, with just as much power, a miniature hurricane he can hold, just for himself and his mentor, but at the same time for everyone he cares about, everyone he holds dear. Everyone who needs a hero, needs the key to freedom, needs a new-and-improved reason to live, to fight, to continue on.
He thinks upon this quote, muttering it over and over like a mantra, this and the name of the one he is trying so desperately to save. Difficult—try harder. Sasuke. Sasuke. Difficult—try harder. Sasuke.
He wonders briefly for a moment when he opens his eyes and finds himself looking up at the sky, flat on his back, if Sasuke knows just how great this statement is. He must know—he was always so much brighter, so much stronger, so much more observant, so superior. But he thinks back on the quote—Try, try, try—and gets back up again.
When he finally achieves his goal, he smiles and is filled with a surge of happiness until he realizes something and immediately is feels cold and empty. All through this, did he ever think about Sakura, sitting around back home and worrying about their teammate? Did he ever pause momentarily for Kakashi-sensei, inhabiting the bed next to Sasuke's? Did he, once, hesitate and wonder about everyone else he left behind?
And now Naruto realizes just how small-minded, how selfish, how stupid he really is. So the next day, when he wakes up in the hotel room with the pervert-sage and a worried Shizune-san, he ignores the chakra burns all over his arms and hands and the destruction surrounding him. He pushes away the pain, the discomfort—how can I be helpful to others if I'm always thinking about me?—and fixes a wide and sheepish smile on his face. And through it all, he's repeating over and over again to himself,
It's difficult, so I just have to try harder.
A/N: It started out well enough… but then it got so dark and depressing. It wasn't on purpose, I swear!… But I still like it…