Naruto lay down in the grass and looked up at the night sky, a smile painted on his face as he watched the twinkling stars above.
"Can you find any of the constellations boy?" Jiraiya was sitting underneath a tree, a flask in his hand.
Naruto struggled to make sense of the sparkling mess that lay out before him. Everything blended together until all he could feel was, not an empty vastness, but an incredible vastness, one full of life and the wisdom of unknown years. Suddenly, the memories he had made over the last three years flooded through his mind and a knot formed in his stomach at the prospect of going home. He had grown over the few years he had been gone from Konoha. Not only physically, but mentally as well. He was no longer the same foolish boy who had left, although, he still lingered inside him somewhere. How would people react when he finally came home? Would everything go back to the way it had been, or would people welcome and open their arms to him?
"I assume from your silence boy that you cannot." Jiraiya slurred.
Naruto was pulled back to realty from his revelry. He had forgotten what Jiraiya asked him before, so he just lay there in silence staring at the sky and listening to the pervy old sage.
"Do you see the two stars over there?" Jiraiya pointed up at the sky. Naruto followed Jiraiya's gaze and spotted two brilliant stars surrounded by three dimmer lights.
"They are said to be the most luminous stars in the sky. Combined with the three stars that surround them, they form the constellation known as Cassiopea. She had once been a mortal woman who was very beautiful, but she became so vain she angered the Gods and they punished her by hanging her upside down in the night sky for everyone to appreciate her beauty for all eternity. It is one of my favorite stories, and when I'm out on the road at night, whenever I feel lonely, I look for her eyes."
Naruto stared up at the two brightest stars as he thought about Jiraiya's story. Why would anyone like that story? And why would he look at the two stars when he was lonely? While Naruto gazed at the stars, he could see a face begin to form in his mind. Sakura, he thought. He could clearly see his cherry haired teammate up in the sky looking down on him, and he quickly felt how much he missed her. His hands began to sweat as he realized it would only be a matter of days before he would finally see her again. As he continued to stare at her image in the night sky, he couldn't help but feel like something wasn't right. Almost as if the starry eyes looking down upon him weren't Sakura's at all.
Naruto shook his head and turned over in order to break the trance he had fallen in. There had been something he wanted to ask Jiraiya, something he had been wondering about since the first training session they had together.
"It's warm tonight." Naruto commented as he took he off his shirt.
"The weather is our friend tonight." Jiraiya absently responded to Naruto's statement.
Naruto lay back down and began tracing the mark on his stomach with his finger. He had to ask him now. He may never get another chance to ask again, but the huge man looked far too serene staring up at the night sky, lost in his own thoughts, for Naruto to interrupt him now. He felt a tug of guilt for even contemplating idea.
"What's the matter boy?" The man's gruff voice pierced the silence and startled Naruto once again.
"What makes you think something's wrong?" Naruto responded stubbornly, more out of being shaken up than anything else.
"You circle the seal on your stomach with your hand. You've done it almost every night since we started training." Jiraiya replied, his attention still on the sky.
Naruto flushed a little, he'd noticed.
"Well, I-I was just wondering if there was any significance to the words on the seal? You know, light, dark, peace, war, relief."
Jiraiya broke his gaze and turned to Naruto.
"What do you mean?" He asked, as he raised one eyebrow.
"It just seems like they're connected somehow, like there is more to the words than just a sealing jutsu."
"You are very perceptive boy." Jiraiya grinned at his pupil. "The reason these words work as an effective jutsu is their meaning. Long ago, these were the words people lived by. These very words reminded them of life and what it meant to live. The circle represents the cycle and the order in which each word occurs. It will never be broken and will always repeat itself in the same way. The events won't be the same, but light, dark, peace, war and relief will."
Naruto listened intently to Jiraiya's words. He still didn't quite understand, Jiraiya wasn't telling him everything.
"So what do they mean?" Naruto pressed.
Jiraiya took in a deep breath he was still the same after all this time, too caught up in finding the answer to care about the history.
"It's a cycle Naruto, so it doesn't really have a beginning or an ending. I want you to understand that before I explain anything else, do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand you want me to understand that it's a cycle before you move on." Naruto repeated.
Jiraiya rolled his eyes.
"Okay, it's a never ending cycle, but I have to start somewhere, so we'll start with light and dark. All this means is that a light is always found to lead you through the dark, or you will find a light before you enter the dark. Peace comes before war, or war follows peace, but after war there is always relief and in relief we find the light. Do you understand Naruto?" Jiraiya eyed his student.
"I think so, sort of." Naruto scrunched his nose in confusion.
"Don't worry if you don't. It's a very abstract concept, designed to show people's natures and the nature of their hearts, and you boy, have only experienced the dark. The rest will come in time. Whenever you encounter the darkness of your heart, or the bloodiness of war, the trick is to remember the light will scare the dark away and relief will always come in the end." Jiraiya adjusted his back against the trunk of the tree he was leaning against and turned his head back to the endless sea above them.
"Go to sleep Naruto. You will need your rest. We have a long way to go tomorrow if you want to reach Konoha in the next few days."
Naruto looked back up the sky where the two brightest lights of Cassiopea shone. He waited for the image of Sakura to return, but she never did. As Naruto thought about the picture of her earlier and attempted to figure out what had been wrong, he suddenly wondered if perhaps Jiraiya had someone he could see up in the sky. Perhaps he had someone he cared about too. Naruto felt the urge to ask, but decided against it. His last conscious thought was of Konoha and the two orbs in the sky.
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Kiba found Hinata sitting on her favorite bench in the middle of a sea of cherry blossoms. The pink foliage would normally have demanded attention, but instead faded to the backround when set against Hinata's creamy white skin and jet black hair. He knew he would find her here, the Hyuga garden was where she went to be alone. He watched her with Akamaru for a few moments, drinking in the scene, before he finally made his way over, taking a sit next to her on the stone bench.
Hinata smiled at her friend. He had come to visit her almost everyday for the past year and she had grown fond of him. She appreciated the friendship he had given her, especially over the last three years. He was the only one who knew just how hard they had been.
"Have you heard the news?" He asked without looking at Hinata.
"Heard what?"
Kiba turned his head so that Hinata could see his face now. She thought about how much her friend had changed. He no longer possessed the youthful look of a child. His face was different, harder more mature. Only his eyes matched the Kiba from their childhood. They still had the same softness the same tenderness about them, but that softness would dissipate in an instant in battle. Even Akamaru was bigger, he no longer was the small white ball riding around on Kiba's shoulder. Instead Kiba was the one doing the riding now.
Kiba took a deep breath in and shut his eyes.
"He's back Hinata. Naruto is back."
Hinata's world stopped as her breathing became heavier and her heart began to race.
"N-naruto is back? W-when."
Kiba leaned over, clasped his hands together and looked at the ground.
"He arrived back in the village today. I haven't seen him yet, but I thought you should know."
Hinata's hand automatically grabbed the spot over her heart and they sat in silence. Kiba staring at the ground and Hinata taking in the news. It was Kiba who finally broke the silence.
"Are you going to see him?"
"I-I don't know. I-I don't think I can. What would I say?"
Kiba looked up at his teammate for the first time since he told her the news. Kiba had always felt Hinata's feelings would fade with time, but as he looked at his teammate he could see the terror and excitement she felt at meeting Naruto for the second time. Everything she had done over the past three years had been for him, Kiba knew that, but still he thought. . .it didn't matter what he thought. Kiba petted Akamaru and scratched his ear.
"Maybe you could start with hi." He suggested distractedly.
Hinata gave Kiba a warm smile.
"I guess your right, that's what a friend would say." She gently placed her hand on Kiba's arm.
"Yeah," Kiba responded, "that's what a friend would say." Still he couldn't help closing his eyes at her touch.
While Kiba lost himself in the moment, he suddenly remembered that he had something else to tell Hinata.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot because of the Naruto news, but there has been more Sasuke sightings." Kiba said gruffly.
Hinata snapped back to realty and gave Kiba an inquiring look.
"There have? By who?"
"It seems that the sightings have increased within this last month. There are too many to count now."
"That's odd." Hinata noted. "I wonder why they have increased from one every month to so many? Nobody has caught him?" She pressed.
"No, the sighting have all happened like before, just like when Neji saw him with you. The people are always too injured to go after Sasuke, or they're in some other precarious position."
"I wonder what he wants?" Hinata bit her lip in thought.
"I don't know, your guess is as good as mine." Kiba shrugged. "Hey, do want to train a little today?" Kiba knew what her answer would be, but he hoped it would be different anyway.
"Not today Kiba. I think I need some time to myself." Hinata gave him a sympathetic look.
"That's alright, I understand." Kiba's heart lifted a little. Even though it wasn't the answer he wanted, it was better than the one he expected. He stood from the bench and gave Akamaru a nudge. He resisted at first, snuggling closer to Hinata's legs, but Kiba gave him a stern look. Akamaru reluctantly rolled out of his reclining position and followed Kiba out of the garden. Before they completely disappeared from sight, Kiba turned a gave Hinata a small wave. Then they were gone.
Hinata sat in the garden awhile longer, contemplating everything that had just transpired. She decided that she wasn't ready to see Naruto, not just yet, she wasn't strong enough. At that thought she hastily left the great Hyuga garden and made her way to Team 8's training ground. Hinata felt that's where she would find the answers she desperately needed.