My first one-shot! It's a short thing about Naruto's thoughts after the war. Really not much else to it. And yes, I know I should be working on my other stuff, but I'm going through a dry spell in terms of creativity. I'm working on it (Chapter 7 of Fiery Death Machine is about halfway done, maybe a bit less) but the going is slow. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this little offering.

Have Fun

Naruto Uzumaki was not the kind of person to dwell on things. Angst had, despite his messed up shitpile of a childhood, never been his thing. Even so, after what he'd been through recently, he was markedly subdued.

He was sitting still for once (he didn't get much free time anymore), watching a sunset from on the top of the second Hokage's headband. He'd personally left his behind; it was hanging heavier than usual lately.

The war had devastated him. Sure, he'd put on his brave face and they'd won, but there was so much death and blood everywhere; the Juubi had destroyed entire villages for god's sake! After what he and everyone else had gone through to achieve it, the victory had seemed almost hollow.

He'd lost friends, like Neji. Precious people he'd fought, eaten and laughed with had died for him and for the world because he wasn't good enough. Even Sasuke's return had seemed little consolation with his nindo broken a few thousand times over.

Even now, with the big conflict over, he felt unsettled. 'Peace is a hard thing to create, even for a future Hokage' he mused. The world was a huge, uncooperative thing. Sometimes it felt hopeless.

His friends helped. A bit of laughter with Kiba, a game of Shogi with Shikamaru, some time with Hinata, all helped him cope with his newfound responsibility. He smiled. "It's a wonder I still have time for sunsets."

"Hey." Naruto turned and saw his best friend picking his way across the mountain-face toward him. "Oh, hey Sasuke."

The young shinobi in question looked around appraisingly before turning back to his blonde friend. "You know, I always wondered how you got up here before we learned tree-climbing." Naruto smirked a bit. "I walked up the mountain with a bunch of rock-climbing equipment and spray-paint." Sasuke raised a disbelieving eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"Sooo… where you gonna ask me something?" Sasuke tore his gaze from the sunset and turned a strangely contemplative look on his friend. "I'm not allowed to just want to see my friend? I don't have many these days." Naruto winced slightly. All those times he'd imagined bringing Sasuke back, he'd forgotten to account for the hatred most of the village now had for him. Regardless of his recent actions, helping the village to rebuild, he'd done a good many horrible things in his time as a missing-nin.

"No, there's nothing wrong, I just assumed you had a reason." The last Uchiha had never been the kind of person to randomly seek interaction. He started glaring off into the distance and Naruto sighed; their interactions had been few and far between since the war had ended. Naruto was busy and Sasuke was on what amounted to a very generalized house arrest. In fact, Naruto wasn't even sure he was allowed this far from his house.

"Do you ever think about what it might have been like, if I'd never left?" Naruto jumped slightly at the unexpected question. "Well, I spent the last three years trying to bring you back, so I'd say yeah, I have." It was Sasuke's turn to wince. Naruto turned back to the sunset and glared as though the sunset had done him some terrible wrong. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"No, it's fine. I just wish I'd seen my faults back then. There's so much we could have accomplished…" Naruto frowned slightly. He'd though about this all too much, hell, he'd lost three years of his life to wishing and hoping. True, it had paid off in the end, but tthat didn't make it seem any less unfair. Sometimes he wished he could just forget that the world needed him and leave everything to its fate.

But he couldn't start thinking like that now. He'd done too much to get here and if he gave up now, it would have all been for nothing. Without a guiding force, an example, the world would slip all too easily back into it's old ways, like a recovering drug addict. He couldn't let that happen. He had to believe it was all for something. And in the end, that had always been his greatest asset: his belief.

"How did you do it? Not giving up on me I mean." Naruto looked up at his friend and smiled.

"I couldn't give up on you, Sasuke. You were my best friend. No matter how far you fell, I had to believe you could come back, maybe not the same, but still a good person." Sasuke smirked slightly and turned back to the sky.

"Well, I did actually come to tell you something, the Hokage gave Sakura a surprise mission for Team Kakashi. She wants me to come along. Some sort of test to see how I'll behave. She wants us all in her office by 7:00 tomorrow." Naruto smirked. "You never really got to know baa-chan, did you?" Sasuke shrugged. "Well, just leave the talking to Kakashi. It'd be a shame for you to die so soon after getting back."

Naruto grinned as an incredulous look overtook Sasuke's emotionless mask. Sure the villagers would take time to accept him. Sure they'd lost comrades to their enemies. Life went on and wounds, physical or mental, would heal eventually. They'd won and they had a chance to make it last. His best friend was back and his friends were safe. There was no point in lingering in the past when the present was this important.

"Hey, uh, you want to get some ramen? Ichiraku's is having a reopening special." Sasuke looked unsure. Naruto shook his head with mock despair. "Come on, the village'll never accept you if you never let 'em get used to you. Trust me, I know from experience." Sasuke thought for a moment before nodding. Naruto grinned. "Good, you look like you need some good food!" As they walked back down the mountain, exchanging some sparse conversation, Naruto reflected that things could be much, much worse.