Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Strength in the Eyes of Another

For a a few hours after his departure, you are blissfully unaware.

When you wake, you drive yourself sick wondering how you could have stopped him, how things could've been different…but afterwards, you realize that knocking you out was probably the kindest thing he'd ever done for you.

You see Naruto off to the gate, watch him wave exuberantly, promise so confidently that he'll bring the teme back, but for the first time you doubt his promise. Doubt that his nindo will help him change the resolve of someone so utterly deep in vengeance he would hurt his own teammate, would abandon his own village, his home, just to fulfill a goal – to get more power.

But if anyone has any hope of getting Sasuke to reconsider, it's Naruto and you know it. You also know it's going to break you even more, but you try, try to trust him for once and hope.

He comes back bleeding.

Kakashi-sensei carries him in – a broken little body clad in a once-blinding orange that's stained red in so many places it's almost crimson. You're in the hospital, waiting for Naruto to come back, yet trying to forget they ever existed in the first place. But then you see your teacher, the unflappable, ever-late Hatake, running as fast as he can toward the hospital, eyes wide in urgency, alarm. His dog summons are racing ahead, some behind, keeping a watchful eye over their master's little charge, making sure his lifeless body doesn't fall at Kakashi's pace.

And you do not know it but your eyes deaden, replaced with clear, green orbs that comprehend, but do not see. You know it's unhealthy and you know it's a coping mechanism, but for once, you don't care.

In the days that follow, you visit Naruto often. You watch over him, gauge his breathing and pretend that everybody isn't staring at you, walking on eggshells around you.

One day, you're arranging his flowers when a thought strikes you and you look down at him with sudden insight. You realize you've always been jealous – of the two of them. They've both grown so much stronger, so much faster than you have; you're still the same girl you were when you graduated the academy, aside from the healthy dose of respect you gained for your teammates and your sensei. The reason they're so strong is because they've always had a goal, a promise, something to strive for.

You've based all your dreams on someone. But the thing about people, is that they change all the time. They're not stable like goals or promises, they shift in and out of life, like a rainbow, beautiful and so very much there, lighting up the world with it's presence, until it disappears – without warning – and it's like it never existed in the first place.

Rainbows don't wait for you to admire them, don't stay long enough for you to find where they begin, where they end. No, they're just there when you most need them, and then they aren't, no matter how much you beg, how much you want them to stay.

Sasuke is like a rainbow.

You've spent so long building your dreams on an illusion, you've lost yourself.

He might have been sitting next to you, but he was never really there. He does not care about you or your dreams. You were delusional if you thought he would let you hold him back from his goal. Because unlike you, he knows what he wants and he will do anything to get it. He's pushed away his friends because he thought it was necessary.

What excuse do you have?

Now he's gone and there's nothing left for you, but you'll never abandon your village because you swore, you swore when you accepted your hitai-ate that you would protect the village and serve it. You know that power isn't the only way to get stronger. You understand that it's love that makes you greater when it counts.

And you would have told him that, if only he'd stopped to listen.

If only he hadn't been so wrapped up in his own web of lies… if only he'd trusted you. But why should he? You've never given him any reason to consider anything more than an annoying fan girl, even if you were his teammate. Perhaps, he felt more towards you than any other girl, but it wasn't enough, it would probably never be.

So, you couldn't tell him. The guilt still eats away at you, but now you have begun something.

You've never had a reason to push away your comrades. You need their support more than he needs it, anyway. You won't survive without them. You know it. Yet, you feel no shame.

Naruto's nindo, which has always sounded so strong, makes even more sense now. You understand why he does what he does, why he'll slave away to save the ones he cares for, why he cares for anyone he meets at all. It's because he understands that he needs them. Needs them to become stronger, tougher, greater.

And Naruto, the biggest dobe of them all, has read underneath the underneath so deeply, so thoroughly that he's taken all the good things in Sasuke and none of the bad. He's equal to Sasuke, maybe even more, but he's hurt nobody (broken no bonds, pushed away no friends) to get it.

And when your last remaining teammate opens his eyes, you look at him with warmth, tell him you're glad he's safe, and call for the medics. He stares at you and you can tell he expects you to be angry. He mutters in a hoarse voice that he didn't keep his promise, but you push him back down on the mattress and assure him that he will.

Someday.

After all, he never goes back on his word, right?

He grins at you, and you're reminded that while the rainbows come and never return, the sun still lights up the sky, every time. Oh, it may hide away a few times, but it always comes back – because it knows that nothing can survive without it.

You laugh at his antics (it feels strange) and wonder how you could have needed anybody else. Not that you are willing to make that mistake again, but if you ever want to put your faith in someone, people like Naruto are the ones who won't let you down. You realize that now.

And nobody hears you or acknowledges what you say, but that night, you create a nindo for yourself.

Those two can leave. The village has little to offer them. But you're not like them; you're just average and your home has a lot to teach you. You will stay with your friends and family and you will also grow stronger. But unlike them, your bonds will always come first.

You will learn, in time, how to fight and destroy and haze like them, but for now, you will live your life to the fullest.

You will serve your Hokage and the village with no regrets. You will be a ninja, but also be a friend, a daughter, a wife. You will not let your bonds hold you down or blame them for being unable to level the battlefield like the legends they're striving to be, or the one your sensei is. You might not live very long in a confrontation, but it is better than living long without warmth, without love. You wonder how cold Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei really are.

Naruto leaves with Jiraiya and a promise. You turn away from the very gate which marks their abandonment, shake your head and remember a figure clothed in blue.

His dreams did not include you. But that's okay; your dreams don't include him anymore, either.

And the next time you and he meet, he will be stronger, colder, and you will be warmer, with your friends all around you, knowing that if you die, others will take your place and finish what you started.

You have not miraculously grown stronger. You have simply decided that if he can let go of you that easily, there was nothing to hold on to in the first place.

And as you race down the streets of Konohagakure with the others, feeling the wind in your hair, the adrenaline in your veins and the laughter of your friends in your heart, you know you have chosen right.

END.

A/N: All feedback is appreciated, considering this is a new style I am attempting. Thank you for reading.