By the time he and his sensei parted ways, Naruto took to the rooftops and ran up the Hokage mountain. He chose to run over the face of his father, eliciting another pang in his chest at what could have been. Memories of Minato and the previous Hokages fighting alongside the remaining entirety of frontline shinobi - as credited to Orochimaru of all people - filled him with the lingering sense of awe and disbelief that it actually happened.
It helped that he at least got to properly say goodbye to his grandfather-like figure, after all those years since the fateful Chuunin exams. His death had shaken him almost as much as Jiraiya's. With his terribly neglected and oftentimes lonely childhood, it was the Sandaime that was always there to lend a patient ear and impart helpful wisdom to the brat who never realised how fortunate he was of attaining the care and attention of the most important man of the village. Although the man was certainly past his prime when he was resurrected, he still proved to be a challenge for the fight against Madara's plans.
Unfortunately, despite their combined efforts, they still failed.
Naruto leaned back slightly as he balanced himself of the balls of his feet on the railing. The sun was beginning to set steadily, the sun's rays reaching parts of buildings that were once piles of rubble. Shadows extended from dark alleys, and the occasional shimmer announced the brief presence of shinobi doing their rounds. The sky had taken a comforting lilac hue, the currently dominant clashes of the bright sun's rays and the endless dark blue creating an area of colour almost reminiscent of his unusual attire. Taking a deep breath-which faintly smelled of the distinct green foliage Konoha was known for- Naruto felt his tumulus mind, rampant with memories of war, finally relax.
Now that he was calm and level-headed (imagine that), he finally had time to ponder his next course of action. What are his plans, since he had knowledge that he isn't supposed to have, jutsu that aren't meant to be created yet not to mention unknown? And Kurama? Madara? Akatsuki?
His serene and tranquil state of mind suddenly lurched into a chaotic frenzy of impossible ideas and mostly stupid suggestions that had varying degrees of success. From finding and killing the Akatsuki himself to simply leaving this village to hunt for the ancient madman that ruined everything.
He chuckled quietly to himself. If he continued with that train of thought, he might actually end up like Sasuke. Naruto would be calling himself a hypocrite for wanting revenge, but was it revenge or justice when the person you want dead also wants ultimate power that could wipe out the shinobi population? There was no doubt in his mind that he'd be doing a service to the world for killing an insane man with already insane power. His infamous 'Talk no justsu' was out of the question. You don't reason with a madman.
In order to do this, he needed to act. He needed to train; allow his body to relearn his skills and his techniques that made him Rokudaime instead of Kakashi. As opposed to his past life, he knew what he was doing this time. He had time, he had long developed patience; and all he required was focus.
The last of the setting sun disappeared beneath the horizon, taking the lilac hue with it, leaving behind the infinite dark sky decorated by softly shining stars and a moon not affected by an eternal tsukyomi.
The next day, he woke up feeling disorientated and oddly sweaty.
For the life of him, Naruto couldn't remember precisely what he dreamt of last night, but the dreaded, foreboding feeling of loss and death hasn't left him yet. Closing his eyes and focussing intently at the barely lingering image of dark hair and pale skin, his mind wandered to his deceased lover. She was always a painful reminder of his failures, his responsibilities.
The weight in his heart felt heavier.
It was strange that he thought of her now, years after her death, years after taking revenge, mourning, grieving, accepting, loving, smiling. His lips curved up slightly at the memory of her ever-present gentle grin and the soft creasing of her pale-coloured eyes. Even in death, she never stopped smiling that tender smile, only directed for him. If only she hadn't died protecting him. If only he hadn't been so slow. Then maybe his relationship with Neji wouldn't have ended up strained, maybe the Hyuuga clan wouldn't have put up such a fight for his Hokage-ship.
With an abrupt start, Naruto snapped his eyes open, ignoring the moisture trailing down his marked cheeks, and swung his legs over his bed. He noted that he was up far earlier than he was expected to, his room was still covered in shadows that refused to leave for another while. Darkness and silence were never a good combination for the man-turned-boy, despite his affinity for sneaking around in areas he was not welcome.
Snatching whatever clothes he had that were not orange – which was pitifully lacking- he geared himself up for a quick stroll to a random training ground. The face of a female Hyuuga plagued his weakening hold of his thoughts as he swept out of the room with a simple shunshin.
Sasuke was a prime example of why humans were described as creatures of habit.
Ever since the massacre, he developed and nurtured a burning resolve to end Itachi and have him atone for what he did to their clan. He was starkly aware of the tremendous skill-gap, and he still hadn't achieved even half of what Itachi could do when he was ten. He couldn't afford to waste anymore time than he already had; and though Kakashi's training had become far more effective than he was at the start, Sasuke couldn't stop his own long-standing training schedule.
Every morning at six, he would throw on his usual attire, mechanically stock up on weapons and briskly walk to a training ground that has not been completely destroyed by jounin. There, he would execute his warm up, spend an hour on conditioning, another two on practising his ninjutsu, another hour in taijutsu and if he didn't have training with his pathetic teammates, he'd spend one more hour sharpening his aim through a meticulously assembled obstacle course.
He would then, repeat this routine backwards that evening again- as long as there was no mission involving a cat and exercising his rather limited patience for felines and idiots.
Granted, this routine left him feeling fatigued, worthless and frustrated when he made no progress, but a quick-fix to get past his vexation was to envision Itachi's heartless stare and how powerless Sasuke was to those eyes. From there, he would resume his training routine with renewed viciousness.
So it was a surprise when, after three years of his undisturbed routine, that his blond haired teammate would be the one to interrupt his schedule.
He observed Naruto's effortlessly made clones do different exercises in large groups while one lone Naruto sat down with a scroll and brush. From the edge of the training ground where Sasuke stood, he forcefully pushed down the irritation of someone disturbing his every day pattern. Instead, the beginnings of a snort of derision was halted by the clear standard in Naruto's ninjutsu, which resulted in a questionable twitch of his left eye.
His gaze remained on the group of Naruto's doing impossibly swift hand signs and releasing powerful techniques that were no doubt ranked higher than the dobe himself.
His legs haven't moved for five minutes. As soon as he realised this, he turned on his heel and left the training ground. He missed the quietly chortling figure who kept his blue eyes trained on his teammate among the mass of his clones.
"Let's spar."
Naruto looked up from his absent-minded observation of the flowing water. He didn't reply for a while, preferring his comfortable position leaning his elbows on the sturdy bridge.
"That's funny." Naruto began after a minute of silence. "You haven't asked me to spar with you since the academy."
Naruto turned to face Sasuke with a worryingly sly smirk. "Do you suddenly think I'm worth dealing with now that you've seen what I can do?"
Sasuke bristled at the taunt, knowing that if he denied it, he'd only be proving his hypocrisy. He'll admit that his curiosity had been piqued after watching Naruto fluidly produce a strong wind style jutsu against a clone who just as fluidly conjured up an earth wall.
"Why have you kept this hidden?"
"That's none of your damn business, Uchiha."
Their increasingly heated conversation was effectively ceased by a loud greeting from Sakura. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun, Naruto."
The boys briskly broke eye contact, Naruto merely offering her a reply and Sasuke a quiet grunt before proceeding to sulk at the far end of the bridge. It was only now that Sakura noticed the tense silence between the boys. She wisely avoided following Sasuke and instead, gave an enquiring tilt of her head to an uncharacteristically calm Naruto. When he responded with a mute shake of the head and a languid shrug, Sakura frowned and turned her attention to the water too.
Two hours of uncomfortable silence permeated between the mismatched team. The unresponsive Naruto stayed put in a relaxed pose and a blank expression on his face. The normally lively blue eyes that perpetually oozed mischief were alarmingly absent.
Her eyes zoned in on the dark haired boy who wore a contemplative expression, hidden partially by his hands that were clasped in front of his face. His eyebrows were furrowed in focus at something that was clearly important that it disturbed him so much. For once, there was no anger in his eyes, only confusion.
She idly wondered what was going on with her generally loud teammate. He appeared fine yesterday, though a bit subdued. Naruto seemed to have sensed her growing concern for him since he turned his head and gave her a soft smile before retreating back to his thoughts.
By the time Kakashi arrived, Sakura and Sasuke stood up simultaneously- for different reasons. One was eager to begin water-walking while the other wanted to commence a thorough investigation of Naruto's skills.
Kakashi gave his customary excuse for his tardiness (which was more realistic this time) accompanied by a concerned look at Naruto, who hasn't lost the far-away look in his eyes. As expected, his teammates seemed just as clueless as he was.
"So, my cute genin; are you ready for some cat-hunting?"
His sadistic glee induced an exasperated groan, an irritated twitch and a frown. If he hadn't been paying attention to the blond-haired brat, he would have missed the fond expression on his face before it was replaced by resignation.
