The gates loomed high above him as he neared his home, his steps slow and pained, his gait injured. He stops and just looks up at the massive gates. Both are open and the sun is shining on the shimmering paint of the symbols on the wood. He'd been here nearly every time to watch them be repainted, except for his two and a half year training gap, and his most recent 2 year escapade to Sound. Slender fingers curled around a scroll in his pocket and he continued toward the gates.
A hand raised in greeting as he passed Izumo and Kotetsu on the gate. He didn't know them by name, but he knew them well enough to know they would appreciate the gesture. He almost laughed when he saw Izumo slumped across the desk, drooling slightly on the polished wood. Kotetsu was leaning on his hand, almost drifting into the realms of sleep himself. When he saw Naruto, his eyes snapped open fully, and he lifted his hand to wave back, only to fall into the desk when he raised the hand he was leaning on.
His hands formed the familiar signs as soon as he was out of sight of the prying eyes of the villagers, shinobi and civilian alike. With a silent poof, he vanished from sight, only to appear seconds later, in front of the Godaime's desk. He flicked his pony tail over his shoulder from where it had come to rest across his front and handed Tsunade the scroll from one of the many pockets in his black pants.
"What's thi-" She sneezed violently into a tissue before continuing. "What's this? And are you not cold?"
"It is the blueprints of the Akatsuki main base, and no. The Kyuubi keeps me warm, even in autumn." He smirked at Tsunade's grumble of complaint and slid a finger through one of the lower holes in his mesh shirt.
"Akatsu- Where have you been? Please don't say you went after Akatsuki!" She leapt to her feet, dropping the scroll onto the table and ran around the desk to run a diagnostic jutsu on the blue eyed teen. It came out clear. He had no injuries of any sort.
"I did not set out intending to go after Akatsuki. I set out intending to go after Sasuke."
Tsunade sat down again. "If I'd know that I'd have never let you go."
"That was why I did not say where I was headed." His head drooped slightly and his eyes dropped to the floor. "I failed to bring back Sasuke. He killed the snake, yet refused to come home. He said he was bound to follow his destiny and kill his brother before he could consider any place home, before he could be bound by oaths to a village."
*********************************************
The lake always calmed him somewhat. He wondered if he had relations in a water-based country somewhere. The backdrop of trees left a shadow across the lake, the occasional beam of orange light slipping through as the sun set slowly from sight. He'd failed yet again. He reached back and pulled the tie from his hair, letting it fall down over his shoulders in a cascade of golden silk. The bangs which hid his eyes from sight concealed the tears which prickled at the edges of his vision.
"How can I ever hope to become hokage, when I can't even save my best friend?"
Saying it aloud made it all the more real, all the more believable. A single tear escaped his eye and ran down the whiskered cheek, dripping off his chin and disappearing into the dark material of his pants.
A hand landed on his shoulder and he cursed himself for not sensing the person. He glanced up and saw the last rays of sunlight glance off the senbon in the man's mouth.
Genma took his hand off Naruto and sat down on the dry bank next to him. They stared out over the lake in the semi darkness together for a while before Naruto finally spoke.
"I promised Sakura I'd bring him back. That was seven years ago. Since then I've spent four and a half years away from the village training, and when I go to bring him back, I find he's killed Orochimaru and is going after his brother again. What sort of aspiring hokage can't even save his own best friend? Hell, what sort of ninja is still a genin at 19?"
"One who hasn't yet had the chance to take the exam. You have only been in the village for a year and a half since the disaster of an exam you competed in. If I remember, Sakura took the exam with the remainder of Asuma's team while you and Sasuke were absent. If the exam didn't have to be taken in teams of three, you would be a chuunin by now. Probably a jounin."
Naruto smiled slightly under his bangs and wiped away the tears. This man may not know him very well, but he knew exactly what to say to him.
"Come on, I'll buy you ramen."
