The freedom was suffocating. For eight years Naruto had been told when to wake-up, what to wear, when to eat, what to do, and what pills to take every day. For eight years Naruto had done little more than listen to therapists drone on and on about how fucked up he was and how the only family he ever had, the only person he ever loved-the only person who ever protected him, was nothing but a figment of his imagination; an embodiment of all his pent up fear and anger. What a slap in the face that was. Maybe it was for the best, there was still a good chunk of his adolescence that Naruto would never know, he completely understand how that pencil had ended up in his classmate's eye. For eight years Naruto had devoted his life to a life renewed. To a life without anger. To a life without late night talks alone in his bed. To a life without bodiless voices whispering in his ear. To a life without Schizophrenia. To a life without Kurama.
They say each day is the first of the rest of your life but today was a last. Today was the last time he would ever wake-up in a stiff bed with rubber sheets, the last time he would ever eat breakfast with the "friends" he'd made in the ward, the last time he would stride down those halls as a patient. But it was a first too, it was the first time in eight years that Naruto could pass through the courtyard and past the gate and not have to worry about punishment, the first day that he didn't have to move exactly when the nurses told him to and wear exactly what the nurses dressed him in. It was the first day in eight years that he could eat whatever he wanted, sleep whenever he wanted, DO whatever he wanted. It was the first day that he looked at Sai with a bit of sadness because he would likely never see him again and as Naruto lay down in Sakura's guest bed, It was the first time in eight years that he felt truly relaxed.