Disclaimer: Naruto and all associated characters are not owned by me.
It was 3 am and Naruto could not sleep. He turned his head and looked at the back of the woman next to him. Brown curls gathered around her nape, a curved spine naked until cut off by the white sheets. Her soft snores echoed in their makeshift room as he realized that he couldn't remember her name.
He couldn't remember much to be honest. Not her face, not her voice, not much but the crack in Tobi's mask. A thin line marking of the end of an era, of a struggle, of a chapter. Before that crack everything was a nostalgic blur, a book written about someone else. After the crack everything was a drunken blur, the thrill of victory salted with dry sake and hysterical, unbelieving laughter. And the curves of an unknown woman
Cloud, Rock, Mist, Sand - which one was she from? he wondered. Definitely a kunoichi for there was a faint scar on her neck as if someone held a kunai to it and he could remember the callouses on her fingers as they pressed into his skin. He hoped she wasn't from the Leaf - what kind of future Hokage would he be if he couldn't recognize his own shinobi? What kind of future Hokage would he be at all -
He cut himself off there. Lifting himself of the bed and walking out to the balcony, he stared outside. Tents littered the battlefield, the remnants of bonfires lighting them up. An unholy, post-apocalyptic mess. Tomorrow, today actually, would be the clean up, the negotiations, the bargains between the alliance members. As victor and future leader he would have to be in the forefront of it all. Naruto felt exhausted just thinking about it. Turning around he moved to the room, thinking of going back to bed only to find the unknown kunoichi had turned and taken over the space.
Perhaps this is why she came up to him, red lipped and with swaying hips. Oozing sex as she wrapped her arms around the hero, barely covered breasts pressing into his side, the other fangirls hissing with jealousy and narrowed eyes around them. Perhaps all of this seduction was for just this - a warm bed - in the middle of a war zone. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept (or, as this night was proving to be, not slept) on a bed. After all - his thoughts whispered - she doesn't know you, not the real you, you're just the hero, the hero awarded with the bed, with the resources, a perfect trophy on her arm.
Sighing Naruto closed his eyes and imagined himself back at the waterfall with Killer B, his arms wrapped tight around his other self. "I know" he whispered, "I know. But she means nothing to me. I didn't even kiss her. Just held her to keep the nightmares away. I used her as much as she used me." The stab of guilt he felt was drowned out by his dark sides bitter scolding: "She'll boast that she slept with you, that she took the great Uzamaki Naruto's virginity. Everyone will know by tomorrow" Naruto laughed at this "What does it matter, half the women in the battlefield have already claimed that honour." There was no answer from his other side.
Pep talk done, Naruto exited the room, jumping down the stairs, his usual large smile on his face. If he couldn't sleep he might as well do something productive -tebayo he thought. When he arrived outside he quickly made the hand signs for several clones. They quickly swarmed out, clearing up debris, putting out the remaining fires, and escorting the drunks to the makeshift hospital. Soon the battlefield echoed with whispered dattebayo's and suppressed curses.
The real Naruto stood back surveying the scene. The lack of buildings was going to be a problem. It would snow soon and this tent city would soon be inhabitable Not for the first time, Naruto frowned as he thought of Yamato and his wooden huts. He'll have to convince the Alliance to launch several search and rescue missions right away before the bickering started. The missing nin needed to be recovered. From the Leaf alone there was Yamato, Anko, Sasuke...
Suddenly, the heart ache that plagued him all night returned. It came rushing in with a pain that was as physical as a punch in the gut. Naruto bent his head, kneeled down onto the muddy ground, his eyes closed as the shadow clones extinguished all around him, their chakra suddenly cut off.