Living For Your Dreams
"Hey, Naruto… I should ask how things are going, but I know that you can't answer. Heh, I can imagine you now, running around in Heaven, yelling how you'll become God some day. I can also see Sasuke, sulking… down there… saying that he couldn't prove that he was stronger than you.
"Did I tell you that the boy who took the Kyuubi after you is doing great? I convinced all of the Konoha 11 to keep the students at school from being mean to them, and I swear Satoshi is never, ever lonely," Sakura smiled to herself, thinking of the younger version of Naruto. He had spiky, black hair and icy blue eyes—just like Naruto's, surprisingly. He was just as ambitious as Naruto was, and was striving to surpass Naruto. He cared for everyone, but also had a short temper. Sakura, admittedly, favored him out of all of the Genins because he reminded her so much of Naruto.
"I spoke to Sasuke last night. After imagining how he'd answer, I finally decided that it'd be a good idea to tell you. I'm being… inaugurated tomorrow, for the position of the sixth Hokage. Every time Ino or Lee refers to me as Hokage-sama, I can't help but… feel that it should have been you. It really should have.
"Oh, and did I tell you? Tomorrow is also our anniversary. Yes, it's been a year already since Lee and I married—and of course, since Ino and Chouji got married, and since Temari and Shikamaru got married. Heh, a triple marriage was interesting. Though… it should have been a quintuple marriage. You should have married someone, and Sasuke should have married someone along with us. You know, you should have dated Hinata. She really loved you, though it was a one-sided, stalker like love. And though you must be thinking it should have been a quadruple wedding, Sasuke and me--no… I think I really stopped caring for him romantically after the Chuunin exams, really. In fact, that was the first time Lee appeared to me like the sweet hero he really is.
"Oh, I finally am able to summon the boss slug. It took a really long time, and it takes a lot of my chakra up. After Tsunade realized this, she gave me a ton of scrolls to help improve my chakra reserves. She says I should back off of chakra control and work having more chakra—since my chakra control is near perfect. I know my reserves will never be as big as yours, and my natural skill in combat will never be as great as Sasuke's, but… Well, I'm working on it. Maybe by the time I die, I'll have finally caught up to you two. That's all I ever really wanted—to be on the same level as you two.
"Well, I hate that I can't talk to you and Sasuke at the same time. I could bring Sasuke's old Bingo book entry here, but… that seems like I'm disrespecting the heroes. Why show off their old nemesis, the ones they died to fight, eh?
"I also keep Itachi's entry. For some reason, I can't help but look at it while or after I'm talking to Sasuke, because I can't help but stare at it and think about how he turned out that way, and why. Sometimes I wish you hadn't told me, like Sasuke had asked you not to. But then again, otherwise I'd be living every day, wondering what happened to Sasuke and Itachi. I suppose everything happens for a reason…" Sakura winced to herself, remembering an old memory from the past.
Naruto was avoiding her gaze, looking away constantly. Sasuke had just died, and Sakura knew something other than Sasuke's death was bothering him.
"Naruto, why are you avoiding talking or looking at me?" Sakura demanded softly, not having the heart to be fully mad.
"I… I…" Naruto began, and then broke out into the story of how Itachi hadn't killed Shisui, but he had witnessed the suicide and failed to save him. After that, he achieved the Mangekyo Sharingan, for he felt he had truly killed him. After Itachi achieved the Mangekyo, he had been driven mad by the power and eventually killed every family member, except for Sasuke—who he had let live because a small part of him still really cared for Sasuke. Itachi had been driven crazy by witnessing the murder of his most important person, but had also driven Sasuke to evil. While Itachi had been driven towards the darkness by craziness, however, Sasuke had been driven to it by hatred.
And that was the only time they had cried together—mourning Sasuke and Itachi.
"There are a lot of things I wish we had done, you know," Sakura said, suddenly changing the subject so that that particular memory would be put aside. "I wish I had trained more with you two during the Genin years… I wish Sasuke had been more like you and pushed positively to being strong… I wish Sarutobi-sama had killed Orochimaru… that Itachi hadn't been driven practically mad… and, most of all, I wished I would have gotten off my pedestal sooner and realized that Sasuke wasn't as great as I imagined him, and you, Lee and Ino weren't as bad as I always thought. That one's the absolute worst thing I did before.
"But then again, what ifs don't get you anywhere in life, neh?" Sakura asked with a weak chuckle, rising to her feet, staring at Naruto's name on the monument for a few brief seconds. She shivered to herself, not being able to help but feel she should be able to visit the Hokage monument to talk to him, not a much smaller gray rock.
"I'm working hard on the dreams you two left behind, you know. I've already achieved one of yours—I'm still working on getting stronger than Sasuke—and as for Sasuke's… well, I like to think that Sasuke's dream wasn't the one he always boasted about, wanting to kill his brother, but that he wanted to get stronger than you. If you're listening up there, give me your optimism. Lee and Ino help a lot, but sometimes, I need a little more to get through the day. I… don't mean it the way you used to wish I meant it, but I really do care about you—and I wish I could have shown that a little better when you were alive."
'I miss you…' she thought before sadly walking away from the monument, Naruto's unofficial tomb.
A/N: A weird oneshot I suddenly had inspiration for. I hope you enjoyed it!