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.
Time Waits for No Man
By: Mr. Patience
Sakura sat comfortably at her desk in her home filling out varies papers. It was midday and soft sun light illuminated her small, personal office while a cool summer breeze floated through the windows.
Being in her late forties, she had begun to better appreciate days like these than she had in her younger years. However, her keen observation skills had not dulled over the years as she spotted a figure smoothly enter an open window to her left. She wasn't fazed, though, because she noticed the blonde mop of hair that adorned the stranger's head.
Without even looking up she commented warningly, "Twenty years is long time to keep a girl waiting, Naruto."
"It's good to see you too, Sakura," the intruder greeted with a small smile playing on his lips.
"So what brings you back here after all these years?" she asked as she turned towards him.
"The old hag finally kicked the bucket, so I thought that I should come to her funeral. It's the least I could do."
"'Old hag,'eh? Heh, some things never change, do they?" remarked Sakura as she finally smiled.
"Hey, I'm not going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that I stopped calling her old, even in the afterlife."
The two shared a quiet laugh which was followed by a comfortable silence.
Naruto finally broke it by asking, "How did she die, anyway?"
"Old age; the effects of using her forbidden seal finally got the best of her."
He shrugged his shoulders, "Dying in your eighties isn't too bad."
"Dying to begin with is bad for most people, Naruto."
"Well, I hope you're not one of those people, Sakura. Won't be too long before it's our time."
"We're shinobi, Naruto; any day could be 'our time.'"
"Bah, you know what I mean. Speaking of age, you look like you haven't aged a day since the last time I saw you and that was back when you were still in your twenties. Did the old hag teach you her genjutsu or something?"
"I wouldn't be called her apprentice if I didn't know one of her most famous jutsu, now would I? But the same could be said for you; heck, you don't look a day older than twenty-one," she chuckled lightly.
"Ah, well I guess I just age well," he joked back.
"And you're not even using a genjutsu," she stated grimly, all humor gone from her voice.
Naruto didn't know how to reply, especially since she was completely right. He was in his late forties, but his body looked like it belonged to someone at least twenty-five years his junior. It showed no signs of wear and tear; his skin was still taut and smooth, his muscles lean and flexible. These were not the characteristics of a middle-aged man nor were they the works of a genjutsu.
There was a long silence as Naruto shifted uncomfortably under Sakura's stern, demanding glare.
Eventually he met her gaze and said, "That's why I had to leave."
Sakura's face didn't change at all.
"Think about it, Sakura. What would the villagers say if they saw that I hadn't age for twenty years? How am supposed to explain it to them? To my friends?"
"Just tell them that you are using a genjutsu like mine."
"Yeah? But for how long? What's it going to be like sixty years from now when you and everyone else I know are dead, but I'm still standing here and I still look the same? How do I explain it then, huh?!"
Sakura couldn't speak. All she could do was look at Naruto's face which was contorted with anger, confusion, and… grief?
"Tell me what the hell I'm supposed to do when it's just Naruto?! Not Naruto and Team Seven, not Naruto and the Rookie Nine, just Naruto! Just Naruto. Just-"
He was cut off as he was embraced in a tight hug where he finally broke down and cried. Muffled fragments of "just Naruto" could be heard in between sobs.
Sakura just held onto him tightly as he released his sadness onto her shoulder. Sadly, she knew that it was all she could do for him, but she knew that right now, it was all that he needed.
He slowly broke the embrace and stepped backwards, drying his eyes with his sleeve. Raising his bowed head, he looked her in the eyes. Gone was the overwhelming grief that had clouded his blue eyes; it had been replaced by understanding and resolve.
"Good bye, Sakura," he bid calmly.
That's when she knew that it would be the last time that she would ever see him.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and said softly, "Good bye, Naruto."
Breaking his eyes from her, he turned around and headed for the window.
Suddenly Sakura blurted out, "You can't live forever, Naruto."
She didn't know how she meant it; it had simply slipped out.
He stopped for a moment and looked over his shoulder at her before quietly saying, "That's what I was hoping."
He quietly exited through the window as she watched him fade into the distance.
--
A/N: Well, I hope I wrote that to where it made sense to everyone else. And yes, I do know that I didn't state what was keeping Naruto young: that's for you to decide (I was thinking along the lines of Kyuubi/chakra reserves). Plus, it isn't really important. You know that Naruto isn't aging and that's what's important. So yeah, that's it for this one-shot which, may I add, was my first try at a one-shot. If you leave a review, tell me what ya liked, disliked, how I could improve it (the one-shot or my writing skills in general), and so on and so forth.
On a side note, for those of you following my other story, expect chapter 4 sometime in the not-so-distant future.
-Mr. Patience