Everything and everyone is where they should be. The rocks, the plants the insects, the people, the houses and everything else; they are all in their place and soon, so as he will be. Seventeen going for eighteen years later and finally he was going to be free. Free of all the burdens one mask had given him. Finally he was being freed.
Two years ago the war that had put everything out of balance ended. Everything left in disarray finally has been fixed, though losing a few comrades, everyone moved on and made a better place for everyone, and not only for themselves in learning from their mistake that made brilliant men turn astray.
And now two years passed and Naruto, the hero of the hidden villages finally graduates from his duties. Finally he had freedom, be it from the demon inside him that he had lost in the war or from the mask he had worn, there were no mistake, he was free.
Standing on top of the sixth head in the Hokage mountain, the face of a man with his mask still stubbornly on despite the unanimous demand it be taken off, carved beautifully on the mountain's stone; Naruto looked over the village and a serene smile tugged at his lips. A smile so different from his big grins at daylight in front of everyone he knew. He smiled melancholy yet blissfully and for this time was a true smile.
He gazed down at the village that he had protected and loved for seventeen years. To think that in a few minutes in the night he'll be leaving it. All thanks to two scrolls found in the office of the Kage; the scrolls that will grant him freedom; the scrolls of his father's will, the fourth Hokage.
One of the two states the use of his liquidated money for the orphanages and the academy while the other states that sixty percent of all his inheritance be transfer to his only child when said child turn eighteen and be given rights as an adult despite not being twenty one. By giving him rights as an adult he holds in his hands the decisions that were made for him.
Decisions of whether he wanted to be sent to the academy, whether he wanted to become a ninja, whether he would stay as a ninja and of course whether he wanted to stay in Konoha. True to his feelings, Minato did wish with all his heart that the village would see his son as a hero yet of course with his intelligence he knew that it was too much to ask for. And so in haste the second will was written in his blood sent in a jutsu to rest with the third Hokage and be revealed the day of his son's seventeenth birthday.
And that day had passed almost a year ago to this night. When the last hour of this day ticked passed, Naruto will go through with his decision, to leave everything behind. He loved all his friends and his teachers and of course one special bastard but not known to many was that he wanted to travel, see more, learn more, meet people, experience things he can't by just traveling for a mission. It was written on his face all along, he wanted to explore, and he wanted to know much, much more. More than what he had learned from the three years that he had left with the perverted sage, he wanted the freedom to do so. And now that it was right in his grasp, he wasn't going to let it pass.
Sighing Naruto looked at the center of the village, a large tower that was to be the center of commercial and business in the village stood taunting with its large clock that read one minute till midnight. He counted the seconds in a daze, unconsciously following the small constantly moving hand tick with the seconds that passed. And at the last second with the chime of the gigantic clock he masked his chakra until nothing could be felt and left in a gust of wind.
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At the same time that the large clock chimed in the night a sweat drenched raven sat bolting up. It wasn't the sound of the clock making him woke in an uncomfortable frenzy, it was that the lulling pulse of chakra that he specially monitors unconscious or not vanished with the first chime of the midnight hour.
Throwing his sheets away from him in haste he shrugged on a wrinkly shirt he wore the previous day shakily and hurriedly strapped on his sandals. In a few hand signs he was in the Hokage's office surprised to see the said man awake and looking past the window in a daze.
"To think I lost a self-bet to have Iruka barging in on midnight…" the man drawled out as he finally brought his attention to the raven. "I guess you're here to ask where Naruto is… hmm Sasuke…?" the man asked in a statement. Sasuke was about to answer but was cut when the door to the office busted open revealing a panting and crying Iruka.
"He's… Where is Naruto?" the brunette asked as he bristled in panting still. "…if anyone would know it has to be you!" the brunette raised his voice as he trembled slightly. "…in worry I always reach out to feel his chakra ever since the war ended… even in sleep it's been an unconscious habit… but suddenly… just this midnight, it disappeared…" he explained while tears run down his face. "…tell me! Tell me where Naruto is! Tell me Kakashi!" the brunette exclaimed as he clutched on Kakashi's collar from across the table. "He's all I have… all… everything that I will ever have… where is he, tell me Kakashi…" he sobbed the words out as his grip slowly slipped from the silver-haired Nin.
"Truthfully…" Kakashi began. "I don't know… but I do know that he's leaving… he told me himself… but to where he's headed, I don't know…" he said carefully as he slowly pried Iruka's hand from his shirt to grip it tightly in his hands before looking at Sasuke. "I really don't know…" he said in ending his speech.
And just like that Sasuke bolted in a sprint, moving passed the gates, the forest; he ran with one place in mind, hoping that for once, this once he was right.
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Landing in a silent tap, Naruto stood straight on top of the head of the first Hokage's statue in the Valley of end. He paused in his run and heard three almost soundless thuds of feet just behind him. "Why are we stopping…?" one said while the other two just let the bags they were carrying rest on the ground.
"Sorry Inari… I just want to stay around for a while… it won't be long… you go ahead with Jin and Asuka…" he nodded to the other two who nodded in understanding before running ahead followed by Inari. "Five years… it sound so short a time but feel longer…" he whispered into the wind. "Sasuke…" he whispered to hopefully be heard by the other.
"You called…?" a slightly breathless voice said from behind making Naruto jump and turn around abruptly.
"Sasuke?" the blond repeated staggering slightly making him take a step back.
"Hn…" the raven snorted then stood upright having calmed his breath. "We established that… you called already… I'm here…" he said as he gestured to himself by spreading his arms slightly.
"What are you doing here?!" the blond said in a slightly raised voice which received a heated glare.
"Same to you…" Sasuke growled out. "What are you doing here? All the way out HERE?" he questioned as he took a step closer which somehow snapped Naruto out of his shock and leaped over to the other statue's head.
"You have to go back! NOW! Sasuke…!" Naruto said as he whipped around only to be pinned on the ground with a growling, sharingan activated Sasuke over him.
"I'm not gonna make the same pause you made five years ago dobe…" Sasuke growled out. "If you are leaving, leave for all I care…!" he shouted in Naruto's face which shadowed and turned to the side which Sasuke gripped and turned to look at him directly. "Leave if you want, I won't ask for any reasons…" he continued as he stared at Naruto's eyes. "…Only you have to take me with…" he finished with a chaste kiss on the blonde's lips. "If you're leaving for one reason or the other… I don't really care… just so take me with you… I won't lose you again…" the raven said as a drop of rain hit Naruto's face which turned into a shower as if wanting to hide the tears that the blonde were spilling.
Raising his arms around the raven's neck, Naruto nuzzled his head to the crook of Sasuke's neck and wept silently as he brought a chakra infused hand to rest on a pale neck he murmured quietly as he stuck a pressure point. "I can't…"
Eyes dilating as his consciousness fades Sasuke fought to keep awake but went limp still as he fell into a deep sleep. Naruto tightly embraced Sasuke once more before gently letting go and placing the raven on the ground gently as if a hard blow would take the man's life. "You have taken everything from me…" he whispered. "Many years I've spent to chase after you…" he paused to caress a pale cheek. "I can't let you take this away from me, bringing you would make my whole life still revolve around you… at least this time let me be selfish for a while…" he finished and stood shrugging out his worn out black and orange jacket and laying it over Sasuke. "If you'd wish to see me… come find me…" he said lastly before taking stance and taking off leaving a sleeping Sasuke be discovered by the coming ANBU scouts.
A/N: yes! I know! Don't glare at me! I effin' know ok! I know I have like two unfinished stories and one currently in the re-write! But I can't help it, this plot's been there in my computer, being revised over and over, and OVER and I just felt sorry to just let it be…
SO! Review and I'll Update! Have a nice day Pretties!