Outside the sky was ablaze in the evening light.
Swaths of feathery drifts of white spread across the sky, moving swiftly through the windy, autumn skies. From behind a bank of voluptuous clouds shone the sun in a dying, red light.
Laid out in cozy disarray under the fading day was the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The rooftops of the city gleamed dully in the fading light, and all around lights were beginning to switch on, chasing away the coming darkness. Through the thick glass of the Hokage Residence, the cries of children could be heard, playing out and about on the streets.
A man, in his mid-thirties or so, with bright, yellow hair and a set of strange whiskers on his face, rose out of his seat. Dark bags were under his eyes, and the faint beginnings of wrinkles had worked their way onto his face as he yawned. The man went to the window, suddenly nostalgic.
As he looked out over the village, he had the strangest sensation. The sensation was that he could not quite believe time had passed so quickly. Below, a crowd of unruly kids ran amok, spraying up gravel as they ran, yelling and jeering as they passed innocent passerby.
He could still remember when he himself was a kid. Life was always full of adventure, bright noises and fresh sights. His life was full of hardships and difficult obstacles, and yet each became more of a legend with each passing year. And as the years passed, they became to him adventures that he wish he could relive once again. Oh no, he thought, I'm not becoming an old man am I?
Laughing at the idea, he placed all his Hokage garbs on the chair. There was more weight to that it seemed.
He prepared to return home, where he was sure Himawari would come rushing up to him, all smiles, while Boruto...Well, Boruto had changed a lot since the arrival of the two Otsutsuki members. Once sullen and distant, he became closer and more talkative.
And the man could not be more relieved.
It had been so very difficult to talk to Boruto, and he could see his son struggling internally, growing distant all the while, but the man was each time stolen away to attend to some Hokage duty. Once upon a time the thought of descending would've horrified him, but more and more these days it seemed to dwell in his mind. Constantly, he was sacrificing time with family and friends for the village, and noble as it was, he felt all the more alone.
Loneliness was a familiar companion, but it was no companion he wanted again.
Despite feeling this way, he felt he needed a few moments of space. A few moments of space from what he didn't know, but he felt a short walk would do him good.
Grabbing what he needed, the man left his office, cautiously skirting the high towers of paper that never went down no matter how long he worked.
Outside, a cool, swift breeze blew by, ruffling his hair and bringing his senses to life. The musty office was always still and silent, and rarely would he take a break from sitting.
He performed a quick jutsu to disguise himself. His clones are frequently seen across the city, but still people would sometimes try to stop and talk to one. As much as he liked to chat with them, he found that most of the time they asked the same age-old questions again and again. He was much too tired today for their rigorous interrogations and/or demands.
As he walked, he had a few clones scattered about the city, rushing about dealing with some matter or other. It was hard to describe the sensation of multi-tasking this way, but it was no easy thing to master.
A few minutes in, he suddenly felt a familiar presence approaching fast.
Without a moment's uncertainty he spun around, blocking them from above and reached up with his other hand to seize them by the neck, but before he could the assaulter spirited away like smoke.
"Why'd you do that?" The man addressed the dark figure some distance away.
"There has to be someone who makes sure the Hokage is still in shape." The figure responded, "Especially with you, Naruto."
"And what does that mean, eh?" The whiskered man asked indignantly, squinting his eyes in suspicion.
"Means that you look like you haven't slept in a long time."
Naruto laughed. "Some sleep loss is no big deal." He looked to his companion, "Hmm, is the unfeeling Sasuke concerned?"
Sasuke closed his eyes in rebuttal. "...usuratonkachi."
The whiskered man only smiled. And in unspoken agreement they began to walk together. "How's Sakura and Sarada these days?", he asked, feeling guilty he has not spoken to them in a long while.
"Sakura is wishing I'd be home more often, and Sarada...I believe she is alright."
"You believe?" Naruto had asked incredulously, but inside he knew just the feeling of excluded from his children's lives, as well as his own wife's subtlety hidden longing. Over the years, he'd become more attuned to the feelings of others, especially with Hinata, who would so usually hide her troubles.
"Sarada does not share things so easily." Sasuke replied, face solemn. "Or is it perhaps, I do not ask enough?" He said more to himself than he did with Naruto.
Naruto looked at Sasuke, slightly taken aback by his openness of his thoughts, and could not help but feel empathy. Naruto sighed, scratching his head. "Well, I wouldn't know. I've always left this stuff to Hinata..." He could not help but notice how horrible of a father he sounded. But perhaps that was what he was.
Sasuke appeared to be deep in thought, and Naruto could almost imagine the gears turning inside his mind, analyzing and overthinking things as he usually did. But maybe that was what I've been doing wrong all this time, Naruto thought, Not thinking.
He sighed deeply within his mind. The more he grew older, the less sure he was in himself.
For a while they walked together in silence. The wind had picked up, blowing across the hilltop they were now on, bringing the fresh scent of leaves and rainwater. All before him was the gleaming city, dotted with bright, yellow lights, under a darkening sky. Behind him, the sky was an smooth, velvet dark-blue, wheeling up points of twinkling stars. The swish of distant trees and grass was all around him; the bangs, screams, and shouts of the city overcome by the swooshing wind.
Somewhere from the nose of the Fifth Hokage a bird called.
"Ah! Times like these just makes me want to take a loong nap!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed, throwing himself onto the ground. The grass was soft and springy, and smelled of missions long-past. He clasped his arms behind his head and sighed contently, closing his eyes.
Sasuke sat himself down more civilly, and stared out into the village.
Naruto, meanwhile, was feeling clear-headed for the first time that day, and could not feel more relaxed. He frowned when he saw Sasuke's expression.
"What's wrong, buddy?" He asked. Then, suddenly feeling a rush of mischievousness, he poked at Sasuke. "Eh?" When a response didn't come, he pursed his lips in frustration. Then a sudden bright idea came into his mind. Naruto pretended to give up, then with the speed of a striking cobra he surged up to tickle Sasuke.
Before his hand was even a foot close, he felt his arm being twisted and pinned behind his back, his face pressed into the ground.
"Okay! Okay! I give!" Naruto said, voice muffled.
Sasuke released him.
Grumbling to himself, Naruto folded his arms and looked away, disgruntled.
Bemused, Sasuke couldn't help but tease, "I thought you were supposed to be Hokage... usuratonkachi."
"Whatever...I'll get you back somehow."
For a few minutes neither said anything, and Naruto laid back down at ease, intent to enjoy the night breeze even with the annoying show-off beside him. The sun was now below the horizon, a thin, glowing bar of wavering red at the border between sky and earth to signal its demise. A chorus of crickets rose up to greet the night.
"Naruto?"
"...Hmm?" He answered sleepily, mind half gone in dreamland.
Sasuke seemed to hesitate. In the depths of Naruto's subconscious he realized this was strange. Sasuke never hesitated. "What is it?" Naruto asked, slowly sitting up.
He turned to face him, shoulders tensed. What is it? Naruto wondered nervously, A threat? An unknown enemy?
Once Sasuke caught Naruto's concerned gaze, he looked away. A few moments of silence between them passed. The voice of the crickets got louder. "...No, its nothing." He said.
Baffled, Naruto pressed him. "Nothing? What do you mean?"
Whatever remained of his discomfort vanished under a pale mask. The moonlight hid his face in shadow. "Nothing. It is not important."
Naruto glanced at his strangely behaving friend. "Well, alright. If you say so." He looked down. Now that he was a bit more emotionally intelligent, he ventured onward, onto foreign territory. "You know, Sasuke, you don't have to only talk to me when the world's ending..." Naruto swallowed nervously. Sasuke didn't move. "Well I mean...I don't want to hear about the down nasty between you and Sakura-"
Sasuke snapped his head up, nearly rolling his eyes in exasperation.
Naruto laughed, scratching at his head in apology, good-humored. "Yeah, whatever, you get the idea." He glanced over at his dark-haired friend, and noticed his forehead was still scrunched with uncertainty. For a moment Naruto didn't know what more to do. He hated to see people distressed in any way, especially his friends, the people who would actually be friends with a loser like him.
"Look," Naruto said, pointing at the stars, "Aren't they beautiful?"
"...What is the meaning of this?" Sasuke asked incredulous.
Naruto sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Just hear me out." He propped himself up on an elbow. "There are so many of them, don't you see? All over the place, countless, innumerable stars. And they're all alone. Each one surrounded in a sea of emptiness..." Naruto drifted off, "Well, at least that's what most people think."
Sasuke glanced at him in confusion.
"Most of them are actually in pairs." Naruto began again. "Each one has a buddy circling with them in the darkness. Someone to accompany them in their lonely, lonely journey through the skies." He moved his hand in a semi-circular motion, tracing a line across the sky. "And so they continue with each other for a long, long time." Naruto smiled, "Best buddies forever, eh?" He sat up and offered two fingers, "And that's how I see us!" Naruto rubbed a hand against his hair, laughing to disperse his own awkwardness. "At least, I hope you do too!"
Sasuke's face was hidden by his long dark hair, and for a long while he said nothing. A gentle wind passed between them nearly revealing Sasuke's other eye he liked to hide so often.
Eventually, he grasped Naruto's hand with his own fingers.
"Sure." He said,
"Always."