Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the author or owner of Naruto. This is a work of fandom and I am in no way profiting from it.
A/N: This chapter has been edited, mostly for grammatical mistakes.
Peace
By Mr. Patience
-----
Chapter 1
"I can't believe Tsunade sent me on this mission," groaned Sakura, "Why didn't she just send a chuunin on this wild goose chase?"
Sakura honestly knew why Tsunade sent her on this particular mission, but she also knew that her task was more of a farce than a mission. There was no way she would be able to find this person, let alone bring them back to Konoha.
Nevertheless, she couldn't deny that a part of her hoped desperately that she could succeed.
But still, the likelihood of her actually doing that was so small-
"Damn it, Sakura, calm down. You're only making it harder on yourself."
"You're right," agreed Sakura with her inner self as she took a deep breath.
"Just push everything out of your mind. Just relax and-wait, what was that?"
She could sense a strong chakra presence in the distance. This was unusual considering she was walking down a dirt road surrounded by woods in the middle of Fire Country.
"There's no way that's a shinobi…"
She was in the middle of nowhere, far from any points of interest, such as towns or any of the hidden shinobi villages.
But… the chakra was so strong and had literally just flared up out of the blue. Most shinobi, especially those infiltrating a country, always keep their chakra signal in check. So who, or what, could it be?
Sakura knew she had a mission to complete, but a little bit of a detour wouldn't hurt, right? With the graceful skills of a kunoichi, she cautiously left the safety of the marked path and entered the forest.
_____
She delicately landed on high tree branch and cleared her mind like she had routinely done over the past ten minutes. The now familiar chakra signature was only about a hundred yards away, which would have been plenty of room in a normal situation, but Sakura didn't want to take any chances. Especially since the chakra radiating from her target was unearthly, in fact she had only known one other person with that much chakra…
She shook her head. Now was not the time to be distracted. She had to stay focused on her mission- actually, it was just a curiosity. A curiosity with a monstrous amount of chakra. With that last comforting thought, she slowly crept forward through the trees.
It wasn't too long before she was within eyesight of her objective; a black blot sitting on the forest floor. Luckily, it didn't act like it was aware of her presence. This encouraged her to get just close enough to where she could clearly make out its features.
"It" was definitely a man sitting in a meditative position among the underbrush. He wore a black kimono and hakama over a white yukata; the traditional dress of a monk. Needless to say, he didn't appear threatening or even interesting except for one thing: radiant, spiky blond hair which framed a calm, handsome face. But it was what was upon that face that caused Sakura to gasp and loose her balance: three whisker-like marks upon each tanned cheek.
The meditating monk cracked a single eye open as he watched the startled kunoichi fall through the trees and crash to the forest floor.
"Quite an ostentatious entrance for a shinobi," he remarked off-handedly as he closed his eye to resume his meditating.
Sakura promptly pulled herself to her knees, ignoring the cuts and bruises of her fall, when she heard that painfully familiar voice.
"Naruto?" she asked even though she was half afraid to hear the answer.
The monk slowly opened both of his deep blue eyes and replied: "The one and only."
_____
All Sakura wanted to do was embrace the bastard. But she couldn't move. She had thought about this moment everyday for the past five years of her life, but now that it was here, she didn't exactly know how to react.
"I, uh… um," she stuttered aimlessly in a nonplused manner, looking quite ridiculous sitting on her knees lopsided with her pink hair full of twigs and leaves.
Naruto sat patiently with his face completely void of emotion.
Suddenly, Sakura's shinobi skills kicked in and she remembered her mission, even though it was honestly the last thing she wanted to think about.
"Ah, Naruto," she greeted as she sat up straight and brushed her hair out of her face, "Just the person I was looking for."
The addressee nodded his head as if giving her approval to continue.
She steadied herself before beginning: "I have been sent on behalf of Konoha-"
She paused when she saw a sour look beginning to crawl across Naruto's face. However, she continued her carefully memorized statement, "-to request your services for a limited period of time in order to gain better insight into-"
"I have cut my ties with Konoha, Sakura," interrupted Naruto.
"But-" she protested.
"I have given up my life as a shinobi," he stated firmly with a sense of finality.
"Listen, Naruto," she begged as threw all caution into the wind, "All we need is some information. We think that there may be a possible threat to Konoha gathering in the west and-"
"I live in a monastery, Sakura. I have little knowledge of what's happening in the world."
"But you still have your spy network."
"When I said that I had given up my shinobi life, I meant everything; that includes my spy network."
"Then, it's just a coincidence that I found you out here, far away from the monastery that I was originally head to," she stated accusingly, then narrowed her eyes, "Where none of the other monks would see us?"
A glint of contempt shone in Naruto's calm eyes.
"Don't come back here," he stated with a stony face and hard eyes.
He abruptly rose from his sitting position and disappeared into the forest.
Sakura's surprise was painted starkly on her face as she shouted in desperation and anger, "You can't keep running away, Naruto!"
_____
Naruto soon arrived at the monastery and walked swiftly into it, making a beeline for his quarters. He wanted to push the turmoil caused by the encounter out of his mind. However, an aged, calm voice interrupted his frustrated thinking.
"Was it a friend that you met with?"
Naruto stopped abruptly, but tried not to seem surprised.
"How did he find out? We were completely alone."
"I met with no one, Kazuo-sensei."
"You can't fool me, Naruto-kun," smiled the old man without looking up from the scroll he was reading.
"It was just… a beggar."
"A beggar should not cause a man, let alone a monk, to walk with heavy steps and a furrowed brow."
"Well," started Naruto as he averted his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck, "I was in the middle of my meditation and-"
"Naruto," interrupted Kazuo as he raised his eyes to look at him, "I've known you for half a decade and I know that there are very few people in this world who can truly upset you."
Naruto met his firm gaze with his own apprehensive look. His sensei had always reminded him of old Sarutobi with his perceptiveness and wisdom.
"And all of them are your friends."
Naruto slowly hung his head in resignation, "It was someone from my old village."
The old monk listened patiently.
"She… she was a good friend of mine."
Kazuo saw the pain of years past flash in Naruto's eyes.
"Come; sit," he gestured.
The crestfallen blond obediently sat on round pillow facing him.
After taking a deep breath, Naruto continued, "She, or should I say the village, thought that I might know about some suspicious activity going on in the west. Which I don't."
The latter part he added quite hastily.
"Then why are you upset? They will not need you if you do not have what they seek."
"Well, it's just that… I thought that I had made it clear that I wouldn't be coming back."
"If you know that you do not want to go back, then you should not be worried."
"They may return, though," Naruto said anxiously as he unconsciously looked out the nearby window.
"They cannot force you to return; only you can make that decision."
There was a short, tense pause.
"Yes, you're right," agreed Naruto as he stood up, "I have nothing to worry about."
He smiled as if a great weight had been taken off of his young shoulders. But his eyes betrayed him. Kazuo could see the conflict and indecisive within their blue depths.
"Naruto," asked the wise old man, "do remember what you told me on the first day we met. Do you remember why you wanted to take up the cloth?"
"I told you I wanted peace," replied Naruto as he tried to hold his smile.
"Do you think you have found it?"
"…Yes."
"And I believe you," smiled Kazuo, "You have learned many things here. How to become one with nature, one with pain, one with the world… but you have yet to learn one very important thing."
"What is that, sensei?" asked the young monk.
"You have not become one with yourself."
Naruto's eyebrows scrunched together.
"How do I do that?"
"It is very simple, yet it can take years to do."
"I think I can do it."
"Ah, the confidence of youth," thought Kazuo
"Like I said, it is simple. All you must do is accept yourself; flaws, strengths, and in between."
A shadow passed over the former shinobi's face, "Trust me, I realized long ago that I am a flawed person."
"But did you accept it?"
The shadow seemed to darken as he remained silent.
"I have something of yours," remarked the old monk as he changed the subject and pulled himself to his feet.
The sound of wood sliding against wood was heard as he opened a nearby closet door, his inquisitive eye searching its dark corners. Naruto craned his neck to see what the aged hands were rummaging for. His eyes widened and his face faulted when he recognized the long, slender object being pulled from the closet's depths. His pulse increased with each inch that was lost between him and the dreaded object.
As he seated himself, Naruto's sensei asked, "This is your katana, correct?"
It was completely black, from the polished sheath to the blacked steel pommel. The small dents, scratches, and other imperfections revealed that it wasn't meant to be proudly displayed over a mantle; it had only one purpose: to kill. It was a true shinobi weapon.
"I thought I had asked you to destroy it," said Naruto in a low voice.
"I didn't because I knew that it wasn't what you truly wanted."
"What the hell do you mean by that," he retorted suspiciously as he tried desperately to keep his anger in check.
"If you truly did not want this you would not have carried it here all the way from Konoha."
Naruto averted his eyes from his sensei's stern gaze.
"Now," spoke Kazuo, "Neither I nor your old village can force you to do anything, Naruto. Only you can make the right decision. Only you can become one with yourself."
He carefully placed the katana in front of his fellow monk before heading for the door. He took once last glance at Naruto staring at the blade before fading into the hallway.
_____
Sakura walked disheartened down the lonely country road. She could have run through the trees, which would have been much faster, but her legs didn't seem to have the energy.
"Come on, cheer up, Sakura. What did you expect? If he didn't want to be a shinobi five years ago, what makes you think he would've changed his mind?"
"I don't know. I guess I was just hoping that he had returned to his old self."
"Sakura, you're just going to have to accept that he's changed."
"I know, but I still can't figure out why! All he wanted his entire was to be Hokage and then BAM- he just leaves the village! What the hell happened?!"
"You've asked this question a million times…"
"Yes, but-"
Her mental arguing was cut short when a figure suddenly appeared right in front of her. She tried to back pedal defensively, but ended up tripping over her own feet and landing flat on her back.
"Twenty-six years old and still uncoordinated, tsk tsk," taunted a familiar voice.
She looked up from her humble to position to see none other than her blond friend Naruto with a black katana strapped to his back with a sash. He held out his hand, which she took with a smile, and helped her to her feet. However, he slipped it away as soon as she was steadily on her feet.
"So, I'm guessing you've changed your mind?" Sakura inquired.
"Yes," he replied before his face became steely, "But only be in the village for one month."
Sakura tried to cover up her disappointment by commenting matter-of-factly, "One month's better than nothing."
And with that, they leapt into the trees, bound for Konoha.
Chapter End
-----
A/N: Yeah, kind of boring, I know. But expositions tend to be that way, right? Or at least it's that way for badly written stuff.
Anyway, I kind of like the idea myself, especially since it is going to have a lot of flashbacks and back story. Also, I really haven't seen too many of these stories; you know, ones where Naruto leaves Konoha and does NOT became a missing nin (there are way too many of those). Okay, enough blabbering, just leave a review if you like; tell me what you liked or what you think could stand to use some improvement.
So, yeah, enjoy life.
Mr. Patience
On a side note, be sure to check out my one-shots!