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Fields of GoldUzumaki Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage filed the last of his paperwork and sat back in his chair, he could feel his old bones pop back into place as he moved.
At one hundred and one years old Naruto was both the oldest and longest serving Hokage. He was also the last surviving member of his rookie nine.
His once bright blond hair was now grey and his skin was now wrinkled but his blue eyes although faded and holding a tragic wisdom still contained the same mischievous twinkle they had in his youth. The Kyuubi no Yoko that had once dwelt in his soul was long gone.
Naruto rose from his seat and stretched a little in order to awaken his tired body before heading towards the door leading out of his office. As he exited and closed the door behind him the two chunins guarding his office wished him a goodnight, he replied by saying that he would see them in the morning although he knew that he would not. He did not know how he knew but he was certain that tonight he would at long last be rejoining his old friends. Even in his advanced age he was not weak nor did he have an incurable disease but this knowledge did not remove the certainty he felt in his heart.
As he exited the Hokage's tower and felt the cool night air caress his skin Naruto could not help smiling. Not long after he had first become a genin his village had been engulfed in turmoil and strife. Now however it was at peace and Naruto could not think of a better way to leave it. This was a peace that he knew he could not have obtained without the aid of his friends, friends he would be paying tribute to tonight before he went home.
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Eventually Naruto arrived at his destination, the clearing which held both of the memorial stones. It had been one of the saddest days of his life when the second stone had been placed especially when the first name carved into it had been that of a friend.
Haruno Sakura.
Naruto sighed, not long after he had become a jounin he and Sakura had fought Uchiha Sasuke, the man he had once considered a brother, for the final time. During the fight Sasuke had used his chidori to pierce Sakura's heart. As he watched the pink-haired kunoichi fall Naruto had gone numb, she had been dead before she hit the ground. At that time he had looked into Sasuke's eyes and had been terrified by what he saw. There had been no remorse or pity, no emotion at all and Naruto had realised he had failed. It was not until afterwards that Naruto had realised the irony, in order to obtain the power to kill his brother, Sasuke had become just like him.
Naruto ran his finger down the stone until he came to another familiar name, Aburame Shino.
Shino had died fighting ten enemy shinobi. He had fought until all ten of them had been killed before succumbing to mortal wounds that they had inflicted upon him.
The next three names were Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino. The three of them had died together in battle. They had been fighting a member of the Akatsuki and Shikamaru had sacrificed himself to expose their opponents weakness and leave him wide open to attack. Chouji and Ino had been so enraged by their friend's death that they had made short work of their enemy. After the battle they fell to a combination of wounds a chakra depletion, they had lived just long another to relate their story to the team that found them.
Not far after their names were the names Inuzuka Kiba and Akamaru. Kiba and Akamaru had also fought their last battle against a member of the Akatsuki. They had chased them down a long tunnel that had once been a mine. Their battle had been vicious but it had soon been clear that Kiba had been the weaker of the two. Desperate to keep their enemy from escaping and causing more chaos Kiba and Akamaru had brought the entire tunnel down killing all three of them.
It was the last name on the list however, that was closest to his heart and it was she that he had mourned for longest and missed most.
Uzumaki Hinata.
It had been the day that the Kyuubi no Yoko had escaped from its seal. He had been swallowed up by darkness and had been sure he was going to die he could feel his life ebbing away when, all of a sudden, the darkness faded and he had awoken to find his wife lying on top of him. He did not know how she had done it but somehow she had traded her life for his.
At the time he had known that his first duty had been to stop the monster that had resumed it's destruction of his village after thirty-one years but he could not leave her in that dark, dank cave and so he had lifted her lifeless body into his arms and walked back outside. Once outside he had placed her carefully under a tree and had gone to battle the demon.
After the battle he had returned bleeding and broken, but alive, to where he had left his wife body to find her in the exact same position as when he had left her. Just one look had been too much and he had broken down and cried.
After they had begun dating Hinata had quickly become the closest person to him. It had not been long before he had found himself sharing everything with her, as well as his with she had been his best friend. They had comforted each other as each of their friends died. Then she had died and their had been no-one left to comfort him.
Naruto rose from his kneeling position next to the stone and turned to leave the clearing.
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Naruto opened the door to his house and used a simple katon jutsu to light the candles. They had been Hinata's choice she had told him that she preferred candles to artificial lighting and he had bought the candles. After she had died he had found that he wanted to keep using the candles.
Naruto made his way over to the doorway that lead to his bedroom extinguishing each of the candles along the way. Once there he ignited the lone candle inside the room and entered in.
On a table next to his bed stood three photographs inside of plain wooden frames. The first was of him, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi-sensei, it had been taken when he had first joined team seven at the age of twelve. The second picture was of him and the rest of the rookie nine along with Gai's team. The final photograph was of him and Hinata on their wedding day, both of them were blushing and smiling.
Naruto smiled at these pictures as he lay his head down on his pillow and closed his eyes. He thought he could hear his friends voices calling to him, one voice stood out among the others.
Naruto-kun.
As Uzumaki Naruto made his way towards the friends he had long missed a gentle breeze swept through his house and extinguished the lone candle next to his bed.
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