She sat there watching.
She knew she could have done something. She knew that even if she did, it wouldn't have made any difference. He would have left and she would still be here. In their village.
Because no matter where he goes or what he does, this is his village as much as it is hers. Hell, even more so. He has had roots here from the beginning. He is the one who everybody adores, everybody pities, and everybody loves.
She is the one in the background, she finally realizes, the reason their team works so well. One adored, one hated, and her. Just in the middle. Indifferent to all.
It was in that moment that she realized with him gone their team was at an imbalance leaning too heavily to the hatred and she was the only one who could save it. She would need to build up her resolve and fill the hole that he left so gaping and raw. She would need to rise into the eyes of all and show them, they can still love us, they can still have their shinobi.
For no matter how many heart wrenching speeches Naruto makes. He's not him. He will never be so resolutely loved and so resolutely theirs. He will always be Naruto.
So she sits up and gazes out across his village and into the forest beyond, hoping, praying, pleading, that someday he will come back to his village and realize, no matter where he goes, who he's with, he is Uchiha Sasuke, a Konoha shinobi.
Simply a short drabble that I came up with not too long ago after a trying night.