Author's Notes: This is the first of a drabble series. Different drabbles, none really connected to each other. Most about Naruto and Sasuke being friends or more in some cases. Also, they tend to lean toward a more unstable picture of Naruto, who's just been pushed too far. Please review if you like it.

For this one; Unstable!Naruto. The crazy couldn't not rub off of Sasuke onto him eventually could it? And he was half there himself anyway.

Summary: Naruto still loves Konoha, just not as much as…

What We've Seen

Tsunade's eyes flicked up briefly, too fast for anyone to notice.

"That will be all. Leave me." She gestured to her guard Anbu. "You too."

They glanced at one another, but obeyed.

"As you wish, Lady Hokage."

She waited a moment and sighed.

"What is it gaki?"

She looked up to find the blonde glancing over her scrolls, an appraising look in his eyes.

"You've changed the room."

Tsunade suddenly felt the weight of her age all at once. Naruto looked worse than the last time she saw him. The boy was thinner, a bit pale, and currently biting his fingers bloody; a nervous and unhealthy habit he had developed, one of many. The tiny wounds healed almost immediately.

"Naruto…"

"Fire's coming." Naruto cocked his head slightly, running blood crusted fingers along the frame of a picture. "Few days, a week maybe."

He stared at the picture, some glimmer of recognition, of sadness flickering in blue eyes. Tsunade wanted to reach out, to struggle and find some piece of Naruto to hold on to, something to keep him here…but just as quickly as it appeared, the moment was gone. Naruto recoiled like he'd been burned.

"Rain'll help. You should get ready now."

The boy made his way toward the open windows. Tsunade wouldn't, couldn't let him go again. The Hokage stood quickly, surprising the blonde. She pulled him close against her, enveloping him like she could protect this fragile thing from the world. Trying so hard to make herself believe that she wasn't already too late…

But knowing that she was.

"Naruto…don't leave. Stay with us. We can help you. You belong in Konoha. Your dreams are here." She was lying. She knew where his dreams were now and they were nowhere near Leaf, they'd left this place long ago.

Naruto shook in her arms before slowly calming, reclaiming his composure. He didn't return her embrace, but he slowly laid his head against her shoulder. Suddenly, Tsunade had the feeling that she was the one being comforted.

"Baachan…" Tsunade clenched her eyes. He still called her that. "We can never be who we were. None of us. We change…for the thing that matters most."

Tsunade shook her head.

"No, then why even come warn us like this?"

Naruto pulled away from her, brushing her hair back from her face like she was the child here.

"Because I love this place…these people…" god, he sounded so lucid she could almost believe…

"But not as much as you love-"

"Baachan." The blonde regarded her with a smile, genuine and sweet. "I'm sorry, but I'm not, ne? Don't cry anymore." Then he was gone.

Only after he left did she notice the tears rolling down her face.