A/N: This story takes place immediately after chapter 410, but it ignores the Taka vs. 8-Tails fight to concentrate more on Naruto and Konoha in general. I'll probably include Sasuke and them in it in a later chapter, but for now, he's left out.
Red Moon: ζ
Prologue: New Moon
Uzumaki Naruto was many things. He was a shinobi of Konoha. He was a Jinchuuriki--the container for the 9-Tailed Demon Fox, Kyuubi. He was in love with a certain pink-haired kunoichi. He was (according to him, at least) the future Hokage. One thing he was absolutely not, however, was patient--a fact he was becoming increasingly aware of as he sat here doing nothing, trying to learn how to harness natural energy so that he can use Senjutsu. The stone frogs of Mobyoku Mountain stared down at him, almost as if beckoning him to join them in their stony, amphibious fate.
I can't end up like them, thought the blonde-haired ninja to himself determinedly. He seemed to be getting the hang of this "natural energy" stuff...he could feel it coming into him at the spots where the ancient toad Fukasaku had applied the frog oil to his skin. He smirked. I may even get this done and over with before nightfall. Of course, this thought broke his concentration, causing the delicate balance of the three energies mixing inside of him to tip, and his right arm started to gain the features of a frog.
"You have to concentrate, you idiot!" yelled Fukasaku at the overconfident shinobi, who was currently becoming more amphibious by the second. Whipping out his trusty staff, the wise old toad gave Naruto a sharp crack on the top of the head, dispersing the natural energy from his body and reverting him to his normal, decidedly human self.
The orange-garbed ninja gave a yelp, then turned toward the aging toad with a glare. "You didn't have to hit me that hard..." he said sourly.
Fukasaku responded with a sigh, and said, "Look, you can't lose your concentration for a second if you want to get through this without becoming one of them." He jerked the staff over his shoulder to indicate the giant frog statues.
With a pout, Naruto spun away from the sagely toad and continued trying to focus on drawing on the natural energy.
"This is going to take a while..." remarked the larger toad who had also been observing, Gamakichi. He sighed and closed his eyes for a bit, lulled to sleep by the tranquility of Mobyoku Mountain.
The hidden village of Konoha was currently in a state of silence. It would be wrong to call it peace, since the tension in the air was so thick that even the normal villagers could feel it. Something was about to happen. Something big. No one was more attuned to this feeling than Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage herself, who had been among the closest to the events at hand. While she may seem stoic and collected to many of the shinobi she commanded, those closest to her--namely Shizune, her long-time assistant, and Haruno Sakura, her apprentice--could tell that she was suffering. Not only was the village approaching some unknown event that seemed to be weighing down on all of them, but the buxom Hokage had been the recently-deceased Jiraiya's closest precious person, even closer to him than Naruto.
She still remembered the resolution that she had made while he was away, that he would no longer have to put on a tough front for her if he made it back. She had finally acknowledged her own affection for the white-haired hermit...but it had been too late. He hadn't come back, and the sight of his toad messenger had nearly torn Tsunade's heart from her chest on the spot. It was all she could do not to break down and cry at any given moment, and this was painfully obvious to Sakura, who was currently at her side as she was addressing some ninja who were about to embark on a mission. Sakura had finally seen more than she could bear, and once the last of the day's appointments had left the Hokage's office, she turned towards her master.
"Tsunade-shishou..."
"Yes, Sakura?" inquired her teacher. She feigned a mild demeanor, but Sakura knew that her eyes belied her true feelings at the moment.
"Shishou, it's not healthy for you to keep bottling this up," stated the roseate kunoichi.
"What are you talking about, Sakura?"
She gave her master a stern look. "You know damn well what I'm talking about, so don't pretend that you're fine! I can see that you're hurting, and so can Shizune! Why don't you just talk about it, already?"
Tsunade cast her gaze away, unable to look her apprentice in the eye. "Talk about what?"
"About Jiraiya-sama! Please, just talk about it...you need to open up to someone, or you'll be like this forever." She gazed at her teacher with a pleading look in her eyes. "Do you really think he would have wanted you to dwell on his death like this?"
"He...he was...very close to me," stated the older woman, shoulders drooping. "He was an idiot and a pervert, sure, but...he was an amazing person. He could accomplish incredible feats when he put his mind to it." She let out a small smile in remembrance of his antics. "He would always ask me out on dates...and I would always turn him down. Although...I was really just trying to deny the truth. The truth is, now that he's gone, I realize just how much happier I was while I he was around." She turned to the window, a far-away look in her eyes. "Sakura...did you know that I was going to say yes when he came back?"
Sakura's eyes grew slightly wide in surprise. "Shishou, I had no idea..."
"Yes..." Tsunade gave another sad smile. "I loved him. Still do, really...it's killing me knowing that it took me until it was too late to finally realize it, though." She turned back around to face her apprentice. "Thank you, Sakura. I really needed that. I actually feel a lot better getting that off of my chest."
The younger ninja could already tell that her master, who she viewed as sort of a surrogate grandmother, was doing much better than she was before. "It was nothing, Tsunade-shishou. I was just worried about you."
Tsunade gave a rare true smile. "I appreciate it, I really do. I may not be completely okay, but at least I feel like I can make it through the day, now."
Sakura began to walk towards the door, sensing that her master would rather have some time alone now.
"Sakura, wait," Tsunade commanded.
"Yes, Shishou?" Sakura responded, turning back around.
"Don't repeat the same mistakes I did. I may have lost the big pervert, but I'll be damned if I let you lose the one closest to you, too." She gave Sakura a pointed stare.
The younger kunoichi looked down at the floor, deep in thought. After a few moments, she locked her gaze with Tsunade's once more and nodded, understanding shining in her eyes. "Right."
As her pink-haired apprentice left the office and shut the door behind her, her master breathed a sigh of relief. She gazed out the window as the girl walked away from the Hokage tower. "Sakura, you'd better not wait too long to tell him. I have a feeling he's going to need every bit of help he can get in order to make it through the battles ahead in one piece, and what better motivator is there than the love of a beautiful young woman to return home alive?"
Sakura walked home slowly in the cool night air, taking her time so she could mull over what her teacher had said. I guess I never really noticed it before, but Naruto and I are a lot like our teachers, mused the young medic-nin. And, now that I think about it...I am a lot happier with Naruto around. I can't even imagine what my life would be like without him in it. I...I love him. "I love Naruto..." she whispered, as if testing the words out. Confidence began to well up within her, and she repeated her statement, louder this time. "I love Naruto." Yes! It was true. She had been running from it all this time, but now that she was forced by Tsunade to stare it in the face, it couldn't have been more obvious to her.
But wait...what about Sasuke?
Sasuke...that name had been taboo for her for ever since he had left, and had been the sole object of her affection during the early days of Team 7. She searched her thoughts, trying to sort out her feelings for the raven-haired boy. She cared for the boy, there was no question about that, but...it was not the all-consuming thing it once was. Looking back, she saw her earlier feelings for Sasuke for what they truly were--just a silly schoolgirl crush. Her current feelings were more akin to that of Naruto's about him: a teammate, a comrade, a brother...and nothing more.
This thought brought a sense of relief over the pink-haired girl. Now, with no doubts in her mind, she could truly admit to loving Naruto, and do it without regrets of any kind. There was no uncertainty anymore...it was now just pure, unbridled, love. Determination burning in her eyes, she quickened her pace towards home. She now knew exactly what she had to do.
Sakura allowed herself a mischievous grin. When Naruto came home, he was in for one hell of a surprise.
A/N: Well, that's it for the Prologue of my first chapter fic! Let me know what you think!
A/N 2: Forgot to include this originally, but ζis the symbol for Akatsuki, which means dawn, or red moon...hence the title :P
A/N 3: Fixed a typo.