His reason for leaving
It had been 3 years since the day he finally brought Sasuke back to the Leaf and he left and remembered it like the taste of ramen he had eaten yesterday…
flash back
Naruto and Sasuke were walking to the gates of the Leaf and saw a pink hair ninja sprinting towards them, using chakra to boost her speed. As she reached them she threw her arms around Sasuke. Her tears flowed freely down her face, quickly soaking his shirt.
"Welcome back Sasuke-kun," she managed to squeeze out between sobs.
Sakura-ch's finally happy again, Naruto thought as his lips curled into a smile –"Well I'll leave you two to catch up. I've got to go report to granny Tsunade."
"Huh? Naruto, you don't have to do it straight away do you?" Sakura asked with a confused look on her face.
"Not really, but it will give you two some time alone," his smile was fake, and he hoped that she wouldn't notice.
"Okay, then we'll meet up later and go have ramen or something," Sakura suggested, her smile wide and unknowing.
In the Hokage's office
"Granny Tsunade" Naruto said as he knocked.
"Enter Naruto" said Tsunade, almost as if she was expecting him.
He entered the room, closing the door behind him before walking to the middle of the room and standing at attention like a soldier in the army.
"Relax Naruto. It's good to see you. How was you mission to retrieve Sasuke?" she said, calmly watching him.
"It was a success –Sasuke is back in the Leaf village, and he's currently catching up with Sakura," he said with a stern look on his face.
"That's great, Naruto, but what are you going to do now –I mean apart from your dream of becoming Hokage?" she asked, happy that he'd finally brought his 'brother' home.
"About that..." the stern look on his face didn't falter. "I'm leaving on a training mission later today; Sasuke's home, Sakura's happy, so I'll get out the way and go train myself for Mandra, when he comes for me."
"But you just got Sasuke back to the village and –"she was interrupted by him raising his hand.
"Mandra isn't going to stop because Sasuke is back, so I can't," he said still looking just as serious. "Plus, if I'm not here Sakura will get to be with Sasuke more, so it will help her as well," Although his straight face, the sadness he held was shown in his face, and it didn't go unnoticed by Tsunade.
"Can you at least wait till your wounds heal?" she asked looking him in the eyes with a pleading look.
True, he's doing it so Sakura's happy and Sasuke has a reason to stay in the village, but he might end up injured beyond repair if he goes out in his current condition, she thought as he looked into her eyes.
"I appreciate you worrying, granny Tsunade, but I was healed before I got to the village, thanks to my demon friend," he said, closing his eyes.
"The Kyubi is a nuisance sometimes… Fine, I'll grant you your training mission, but you have to spend at least a hour with the pair of them," she said with a wicked smile on her face.
"I'm already meeting up with them later to get something to eat," he said with a triumphant smile plastered on his face. "But... you can't tell Sakura the reason why I left. I know that she'll try and stop me."
"Okay, Naruto," she said in a defeated tone.
Later on, after eating with Sasuke and Sakura
Naruto stood at the Leaf village gates, looking towards the path he'd soon be walking down. He looked behind himself with a saddened smile.
"Bye, Leaf village, Sasuke and Sakura," he said solemnly.
Then he walked out the gates, not daring to glance back.
Flash back end
"Well, I better get going, I wonder how much the village has changed," he murmured to himself as he walked into the village.
As Naruto approached the sign-in desk, the ninja sitting there didn't even raise his head. "Name, age and business here?" the ninja asked.
"Naruto Uzumaki, 19 and ninja of the village," he said with his trade mark grin.
The ninja slowly raised his head, as if not even believing him.
"Naruto… is that really you?" asked the ninja.
"Yeah, I went on a training mission," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head.
10 minutes later, elsewhere in the village
Sakura was walking down the street to go do her shopping for the week, and as she walked past two women she overheard their conversation.
"Hey, did you hear who's back?" one of them gossiped.
"No, who?" the other asked.
"Naruto Uzumaki, and I heard he's quite the looker now as well. Someone said he looked like the fourth," the first woman stated.
Sakura instantly spun around and ran after the two women as soon as the words sunk in.
"Excuse me –did you say Naruto's back?" she asked with no hesitation as she caught them.
"Y-yes," the first woman said.
"Do you know where he is?" Sakura asked impatiently.
"Erm… The last I heard, he was at the front gate talking to Shikamaru," the woman said, speaking a bit faster than intended.
"Thank you!" Sakura shouted as she jumped on to the roof of a building to avoid the people on the street.
I can finally ask him what the sudden urgency to go on a training mission was, thought Sakura, and why he didn't even tell me, of all people.
Flash back
Sakura walked up to Ino, in her search for Naruto to tell him that Sasuke wants to spar with him.
"Hey, Pig, have you seen Naruto anywhere?" Sakura asked the blond ninja.
"You haven't heard? Naruto left town yesterday to go on a training mission."
"What?" asked Sakura, feeling heartbroken that he left for two reasons: the fist was because it was only a bit after team 7 was finally back together, and second because he left without saying a thing. "Really?"
"Yeah, Lady Tsunade even approved it," stated Ino.
With that, Sakura sped off in direction of the Hokage tower at full speed. As she got near, she sprung off the ground and through the window much like Jiraiya.
"LADY TSUNADE WHERE DID NARUTO GO!" she hollered at the top of her lungs.
"Sakura, I knew you'd be like this when you found out, but the truth is I don't know myself. He merely told me it was training for his battle against Mandra, when he comes to get the Kyubi," Tsunade stated, closing her eyes trying to hide the fact she knew another reason as well.
"Why? Why would he leave without telling me? Is it because Sasuke's back and he thought I wouldn't know if he was there or not? Or is it because he thinks I was using him or something and now that his promise was complete, I would just leave him to sink into loneliness again? Why? Why did he leave? NARUTO WHY DID YOU LEAVE?" she screamed through her tears.
Flash back end
As she arrived at the gate, she looked around but it was quiet and wherever he was, it was never quiet.
She turned around and readied herself to leave, but a bright yellow flash shone behind her and a loud roar of laughter erupted nearby.
What the hell was that light, and who's laughing and what at? She thought as she turned around to see Naruto laughing hysterically at Shikamaru stumbling.
"What the hell was that?" asked Shikamaru as he sat down to regain his composure.
"The flying thunder god jutsu. My father was famous for it," said Naruto as he wiped a tear out of his eye. "But it's a serious drain on my chakra. Heh, I can use it up to five times long range and over three hundred times short range."
"Define your version of long range and short range" Shikamaru said cocking a eyebrow
"Well, my long range is roughly from here to the Sand, and short range is from here to Hokage tower" said Naruto with a grin.
"Well that's interesting. Does it work by using that kunai there?" asked Shikamaru, pointing at the odd shaped kunai imbedded in the ground.
"Yeah, it has a seal on it that allows me to..." he stopped mid-sentence as he looked to the roof top to his left.
"Troublesome, I'll catch you later Naruto," said Shikamaru, following his gaze and seeing Sakura. "I'll tell the Hokage to be expecting you."
As Shikamaru started to lazily walk away, Sakura felt her eyes fill with tears as he looked at her.
He's the same… He's really the same, but whoa, what happened to his body? It's so muscular, and it looks like it was perfectly sculpted in marble by the gods, then sent to earth. Wait what am I thinking? He's not interested in me anymore… its been three years, for god sake, there's more chance of me running so fast I travel back in time, she thought.
"Sakura-chan –Erm, hey," Naruto spoke nervously.
"Naruto? Is that really you?" she asked, still shocked by his sudden return, as well as her thoughts on setting her eyes on him.
"Heh, yeah… it's me, Sakura," he replied, watching as she dropped a few feet away from him. Had she always appeared so graceful? he wondered.
"Really?" she asked slowly, walking towards him until she was in an arms length away.
"Jeez, Sakura-chan, it's really me," he said, this time giving her a grin. But this grin was only for her, and she knew it because no one else got the amount of emotion this smile held other than she.
Suddenly, she dove at him wrapping her arms around him as if she hadn't seen him for a million years. Slowly the shock that struck Naruto disappeared, and he returned the hug.
"Sakura-chan..." he stopped suddenly, as he felt her sobbing into his chest.
"Why? Naruto why did you leave so suddenly?" she asked, still crying as she rested her forehead there against his chest.
"I did it so that I could protect the village," he said, still holding her trying to console her.
"But, we finally had the team back together, and you suddenly disappeared… Couldn't it have waited for at least a day, so we could do something together?" she asked, tightening her grip around him.
"That's why I agreed to go to dinner, so we could do something as a team," he said with a sad look on his face.
"How long were you planning on leaving for?" she asked, finally calming down and looking up to meet his gaze that was looking at her lovingly.
"Humph, since I made that promise, I knew that if you got Sasuke back, I'd have no reason to be here any longer, but over the years it got harder and harder to keep that promise, so my reason for leaving got more of a foundation," he told her, closing his eyes while taking his arms from around her.
"What reason was that?" she asked, while struggling to keep him in her arms.
"I already knew that I wouldn't be able to bear watching you with Sasuke, so I left so that without me around, you could be happy. I wouldn't be there to disrupt you, or to upset you with the depressing face I would have had on my face," he said as he broke free from her grasp, then throwing one of the kunai towards Hokage tower. "Sorry Sakura-chan."
Sakura's POV
"Sorry, Sakura-chan," he said and as I lifted my head, a yellow flash engulfed him.
"About what, Naruto?" I asked, trying to keep him with me.
"For this..." as he finished he disappeared/
I spun my head around to face the direction he had thrown the kunai. I saw him look behind himself at me. And that's when I noticed the tears rolling down his face.
3rd person POV
Naruto appeared next to his kunai and grabbed it while looking behind him, tears streaming down his face.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan, I shouldn't have come back," he said to nobody in particular, while turning his head to look at his destination. He threw the kunai again then flashed next to it, again repeating the process until he threw it through the window then flashing inside the building.
"Hey, granny Tsunade!" he shouted when she saw him with his trademark grin.
"Naruto, I see your mastered your father's jutsu," the older lady asked as she looked at him.
"Yeah, it a drain on my chakra though," Naruto said with a hand behind his head.
"Well, it's nice to see you back in the Leaf..." she was about to carry on, but he spoke up first.
"About that… I'm only here to report like I said I would," he said with a sad expression, "I was going to stay for a while, but it hurt Sakura to see me so I'll leave once I get what I need."
"How did it hurt Sakura to see you?" the Hokage asked.
"She looked at me and started crying," he said, the sadness weighing down on his once happy face.
"I bet they were tears of happiness," Tsunade said, trying to cheer him up.
"If they were tears of happiness, she would have smiled," he said, turning away while tears engulfed his eyes.
Naruto was too upset with himself to notice that Tsunade was right behind him, until she spun him around and hugged him, to which only made him feel worse.
"NARUTO!" a voice from down the hall called, and he quickly regained his composure.
"Thanks, granny Tsunade," Naruto said, before he disappeared in a yellow flash.
Seconds later, Sakura burst through the door her eyes tear-stained.
"Lady Tsunade, where is Naruto?" she aske,d while looking at the Hokage hugging thin air.
"You just missed him, he seemed to be under the impression that he hurt you by coming back," Tsunade said while standing up.
"Hurt me? No! I was extremely happy to see him," the pink-haired girl said, looking even more upset than when he had first left so long ago. He thinks he hurt me by coming home…
"H said you cried, but didn't smile. He seemed even more upset than you –he even..." Tsunade stopped herself, before she said something she shouldn't.
"Even what, Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked with a confused look on her face.
"Nothing. It doesn't matter… What does matter is that you find him, and explain to him that you're not upset before he leaves again," Tsunade covered her mouth in disbelief as to what she had just told her apprentice.
"He's leaving again? Why? Is it another training mission?" Sakura asked, her questions rushing out.
"Go find him, and find out yourself," said Tsunade, and with that said, Sakura was out the window and running along the rooftops towards Hokage monument specifically the fourths head.
On top of the fourth Hokage's head
"My coming back was a big mistake… I should just leave before I hurt someone else…" Naruto mumbled while lying down. His eyes were closed, and his hands were folded behind his head, "First Sakura, then granny Tsunade… who's next?"
"I don't get you," a voice came from behind him. "You haven't hurt anybody. We're just happy to see you!"
Naruto opened his eyes to see Sakura looming over him. Quickly, he closed them again to refrain from making eye contact. "Yeah… people cry without a smile when they're happy," he said bitterly with his eyes still closed. He could see her face on the back of his eyelids.
"It... it's not what you think. It's just..." she was about to finish when he sat up, then stood looking at her.
"It's okay, Sakura. You don't need to finish. I already know what you're about to say," he spoke calmly, turning away from her. "You're about to say you're upset because I left without saying a word, and then when you finally see me again, I use the flying thunder god jutsu to disappear. It's not hard to figure out."
"Well then, if you know why I'm upset, why do you continue to do it? Why won't you let me talk to you? I mean we're team-mates, aren't we?" she gestured wildly as she spoke.
"It's because I'm your teammate, and because I'm your friend that I left the village," he said, letting a sigh out afterward and turning towards her.
"But if you let me talk, I'd be able to tell you something," she said. Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to spill.
"Okay, I'll talk with you… Just please, don't cry. I've already done that to you and it crushes my heart," he said with a pleading look on his face.
"What did you just say?" she asked with a dumbfounded look on her face.
"I'll talk?" he asked in a way that it was questioning her.
"After that," she said with the same look.
"It crushes my heart?" he asked.
"Why –if it crushes your heart –do you do stuff that will make me cry?" she asked with tears forming again.
"Because …... I love you," he said while hooding his eyes, as if he was ashamed of it. But at the same time he felt relief that he had finally told her.
"You love me, so you hurt me," she said it slowly. Then she raised her voice, "That doesn't make sense!"
"It hurt you when I left, and I left because my love for you would get in between you and Sasuke, and then we'll all be miserable. Me, because you're with Sasuke, and you and Sasuke, because I'll always be getting in the way," he said with a sad look on his face.
"Naruto, you wouldn't get in the way of anything between me and Sasuke, because there's nothing between us! I haven't felt anything for him since before you came back. Yeah, I love him –but as a friend, not as a lover. I fell in love with someone else, and he's a better choice by far. He's kind, gentle, loving, lovable and all round amazing," she felt the smile that played on her own lips.
"Well, I hope you're happy with him. He sounds like he can give you everything you deserve," he said not making eye contact.
Suddenly, she pulled him into a quick hug, before pulling back and kissing him. Naruto was shocked. She had just said that she loved someone –why was she kissing him? Then, just as sudden as her kiss, it hit him like a brick. He pulled away before this got any further, and looked her in the eye to try and make sense of his sudden realization.
"Sakura, why did you do that?" he asked trying to see if he was jumping to conclusions/
"Well, the guy I fell in love with wasn't getting what I was saying or my hints," she said sheepishly, with a sweet smile he never thought he'd see aimed at him.
Suddenly the widest grin replaced his previous, shocked face. It almost seemed to split his face in two.
"Do you get it now, id-i-ot?" she teased, her own smile widening.
"Yeah, but I've got one other thing to do," he said with his grin growing larger (as if it were even possible).
He abruptly pulled her into a kiss that Sakura reciprocated instantly. As she pulled away for air, she looked him in the eyes, and then spoke: "I also know how to get you to do what I want now," she said with a mischievous smirk.
"Don't take advantage of it, Sakura-chan," he said knowing what she was talking about. "Crap, I have to go tell granny Tsunade that I'm not leaving again. Do you want to come?"
"Yeah" she said while hugging him as they disappeared in a flash of yellow.
He could take her anywhere, and she'd be happy.
After all, they were finally together again…
The End