The first time Naruto had left the village, he had been thirteen, and full of ego and exuberance. By the time he was done spreading the word that he, the future Hokage of Konoha, was going training with the legendary Jiraiya (though he left out the part where he thought the old man was just a pervy sage), just about the whole village knew about his departure, and were looking forward to it as a means to get the blonde to shut up.
This time, he had kept the information mostly to himself; few knew about the mission he had mostly been forced to accept. It was now two years after the last Shinobi War, and the tailed beasts had been recaptured and given back to their respective villages. But the new jinchuuriki were all too volatile to be allowed to simply return without any kind of training, and it was under the new alliance in place that the villages all demanded the only two left from before the war—the Kyuubi and Hachibi containers—be brought to neutral land and teach the jinchuuriki how to control their charges, and hopefully develop the same bonds that they had with their own beasts.
It was a high hope, but one that Killer Bee and Naruto both were willing to try and actualize. There was still so much damage after war to repair that it would be catastrophic if something were to happen and the beasts escaped to wreak havoc on any of the villages. It would be irresponsible of them not to accept the mission.
Killer Bee had been willing to take on the task himself—but Naruto knew that dealing with one unmastered jinchuuriki was hard enough. Dealing with seven?
It would take all the power between them to make sure the vacated Whirlpool Island didn't become more of a wasteland than it already was.
The blonde had spent his day wandering the streets of his village, his feet carrying him down the memorized paths and to his favourite places. Ichiraku, of course, the Academy, the best tree to sit in, the old Team 7 training ground, the first bar he ever went to, his old apartment...
But as the sun fell past the horizon and left his home in stars and shadow, he found himself perched at the top of his father's stone likeness, overlooking the village with a fond eye. His fingers played with a lucky coin he had received from an academy student when he had passed by to see Iruka, but his attention was elsewhere.
How would he be able to leave? His sense of responsibility was strong enough that he knew what he had to do... But Konoha was his home. He had been born and raised in its walls, and though his early years hadn't been so great... Now that he had proven himself, he was their champion. He was the great hero that everyone looked up to. It figured that only after he had gained the respect and acknowledgement he had always craved, he got uprooted and ordered away. His hand clenched around the coin.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
The voice from behind startled him, and he shoot up and almost tripped over the edge of the monument. The only thing that saved him was the hand that grabbed the back of his jacket, pulling him back to safety. But the question still hung in the air as he whirled to face the roseate.
"Sakura..." he started, guilt weighing down inside his chest.
But looking at the medic-nin, he was surprised to not see any anger. Her green eyes just looked up at him—and yes, it was up after he had actually grown in the past two years—and... He could only recognize a deep kind of sadness that he didn't like to see in his best friend. She sat down where he had been just a moment before, and he silently followed her example, tucking his coin in his pocket. They were close enough he could feel her body heat next to him, but not close enough to touch. His blue eyes searched her face, but she wasn't looking at him. Her attention was far off, her brow furrowed in thought.
Minutes stretched by like this, and he felt anticipation building as he struggled to form the words he knew he should be saying. That he was sorry that he had told Kakashi and Iruka and that was all; that she had probably found out from Tsunade or Shizune, or maybe even the scroll that held his orders. Sorry that he almost left without telling her goodbye, as he was to leave at dawn the following day. In reality, just a handful of hours away.
"What am I going to do without you?" she broke the quiet, soft and more vulnerable than he had ever been accustomed to hearing her. He frowned, but had nothing to reply with. Finally, she turned towards him, jade eyes searching his for an answer he didn't have. "You're leaving me again."
The words struck his heart, and the guilt in his chest rose to lock up his throat.
"What's a girl got to do to keep her best friend, huh?" she joked, but her voice broke and shattered the attempt to lighten the mood. Naruto reached an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him, resting his check on the top of her head as she tucked her face into his shoulder where he couldn't see.
"You'll still keep me, Sakura-chan," he murmured gently, to which she snorted in disbelief.
"No, I won't! You're going away and leaving again but this time I don't even know when you'll be back and I don't know what I'll do if something happens when you're on the island or if you don't even come back and..." she had pulled back by now and raised her eyes to his, making his heart throbbed when he saw the tears. There was nothing more he hated than seeing her cry.
"Shhhhh," the blonde hushed, offering her a crooked smile as he brushed away the moisture gently with his thumb.
Her brow furrowed and she scowled at him. "No! I will not—"
"Sakura, look at the stars. They're really pretty tonight," he cut her off, pointing upwards. She glowered at him, but didn't look. Frowning, the sage cupped her cheek in his hand. "Please?"
Red-rimmed jade stared at him in disbelief, but when he gestured up again she grumbled beneath her breath and leaned back into him, gaze angled up as he had asked. She was in no mood to fight with him, and at this point didn't know how else to react.
"I like looking at the stars," he told her with a slight smile, the reflection of their light gleaming in his eyes. "It makes me feel kinda at peace with everything. Ever since I was little."
"Is that what you were doing when we went on missions and it was night time?" the roseate questioned softly, and it pleased him that he could practically hear her smiling at the childhood memory.
"Yeah. Just looking. Things are different up there than down here. It's always the same, everywhere you go, even if you don't know it or don't take the time to see it. The same stars are going to shine every night. During the day too—they're always gonna be there. You just have to have faith in that."
He wondered when she knew he wasn't talking about the stars anymore.
"But what about when it's cloudy?" she whispered. "Or when I don't have the time to go look?"
"That doesn't mean they're gone, does it? It just means you can't see them for yourself. But in your heart you know they're still up there, right?" She didn't answer, and glancing down, he could see the star shine glinting off her renewed tears. "Sakura-chan."
Instead of answering, she pointed up at a single star. "That one's my favourite," she stated, her voice wavering slightly.
"The brightest one?" he asked, tilting his head to try and look down her arm at the one she was pointing at. She nodded, sniffling a bit. "The North Star. The easiest to see." He paused, and reached out with his free arm to grab her hand, giving it a squeeze. "I'll look for it every night I can, with you."
She didn't reply right away.
"I'm gonna miss you."
"... I'm gonna miss you, too, Sakura-chan."
AN: Just some random fluff because I wanted it and liked this idea. Shut up idc if it's ooc I can do what I want okay. I might make write more with this plot idea of him and Bee teaching the Jinchuuriki, but I dunno yet