Another week passed, it was Sunday, Naruto was enjoying his free day lying in bed, eating instant ramen and watching a comedy show on tv. When suddenly he saw something crawling near the tv.

"You again!" he said sitting up in his bed. The snake crawled up and got near him. "I think I'll name you, you deserve a name" he laughed taking the scroll off its back. "I think you'll be...Saki. What do you think?" he asked, as if the snake were to reply.

But surprisingly enough, the snake nodded and curled into a ball to wait for him to write his reply. Naruto sat up on the bed and started reading the letter.

"I did meet Inari and Tazuna. And I will admit it was harder than I expected. But it has been the first meaningful experience I've had.

Looking at the bridge was not easy either. All the memories from that battle came to me like it happened yesterday. Difference is, now I know why I did what I did during that battle. Why I protected you the way I did.

You were my first connection after my family died, you were the first and only person I ever felt comfortable with. Only with you I felt like a belonged anywhere, where I could be something more than that last Uchiha kid."

A smile drew on Naruto's face, Sasuke had never been so honest and vulnerable.

"I guess I knew it unconsciously. I was just not ready to lose it so quickly.

That's where Inari saw me, right on the bridge. I didn't recognize him at first, but as soon as he told me his name I remembered clearly, I even remembered Tazuna's face.

He then took me to his house to drink tea.

I was weirded out by that welcome. At first I thought they didn't know anything about me. But then Tazuna told me how they had come to help rebuild after Pain, and that he asked you about me. How you told him part of the story, then they received all the news about me.

I can't describe the guilt and shame I felt.

But Tazuna said that he also knew about how I had helped ending the war. He thanked me. I felt as I didn't deserve it. I had to say thank you back, I even bowed like I had never done in my life. It was so unexpected to hear what he was saying to me."

A tear ran through Naruto's cheek. Sasuke was feeling loved, and grateful, exactly what Naruto was hoping he'd get from this trip.

"He also offered me a prosthetic, a wood one. Though, he said he respected the choice when I declined.

After that I just went to an inn they recommended, it was too late to continue.

Tazuna said the same thing about visiting Sunagakure. I decided I'll go. I'll be taking a cart tomorrow morning that will take me to the border with the land of the wind. I will be walking from there, see what I can find before I reach Sunagakure.

It's good to know Sakura is working at the hospital. She'll be director of that soon enough. If there's a reason we didn't bleed to death is because she's an outstanding doctor.

I hope she'll be happy. It was hard when I had to tell her I didn't feel the same way about her."

Naruto's where wide open in milliseconds. "You did what?!" Naruto screamed. Why had Sakura not mention this? Was she still too sad about it?

"Thanks for letting me know how she is.

Well, I'm off for now.

Uchiha Sasuke"

Naruto sighed.

"Now that was a loaded letter" he said letting the paper right in front of him. "You're going to have time to think, Saki" he let out a small and short laugh.

The snake rolled his head, as it didn't want to waste time.

That made him laugh. "I'll give you food" he tried to persuade the snake, it nodded at this comment. "Awesome" he smiled.

Then his eyes moved to the letter again. Taking his time to take in what Sasuke had wrote. He never imagined Sasuke being so open, he guessed it was quite a challenge, but maybe that was one of the things he wanted to work on.

Should he ask Sakura about this? Was there a way to do it without revealing it was Sasuke the one to tell him?

He had to see her, he needed to at least give her a hug. He couldn't believe she was going through that by herself.

Naruto took his phone and called the hospital.

"Hi, this is Konoha's Central Hospital, ER room, how may I help you?" a monotone voice answered.

"Hi, this is Uzumaki Naruto, is Sakura around?" he asked.

Whoever was on the other side gasped a little.

"Mr. Uzumaki, sure, she's around, wait for a minute." she said, her voice had changed to a more excited one, it wasn't the first time this happened, apparently he was becoming a little more popular. He was still not sure what to feel about it.

"Naruto! So weird of you to call. What's up?" Sakura's voice suddenly came through the phone.

"I wanted to have dinner, are you free?" he asked.

"Sure! How about we go for some meat?" she asked cheerfully.

"Deal! At seven?"

"Deal" she replied. "See you then!"

"See you!" he replied with a big smile and hung up.

"I think I'll reply when I come back from that, guess I'll want to write him a piece of my mind." Naruto complained as he jumped back on the bed and turned his tv on again.

The time for dinner arrived faster than he expected, he was dressing quickly and ran to the restaurant, where Sakura was waiting at the entrance.

"Sorry for making you wait!" he apologize panting as soon as he arrived.

"Jesus, Naruto, you didn't have to run all the way here" she smiled. "Let's go inside"

They chose a table, ordered a bunch of meat and vegetables and sooner than later they were eating.

"So there I was, trying to get this patient to be still so we could fix his leg and he wouldn't stop jumping and throwing punches, he was drunk as hell" Sakura was telling hospital stories while they waited for the meat to cook. "But hey, how was your day?"

"Honestly, wishing I had something more interesting to say" Naruto shrugged his shoulder. "Today was my free day"

"So much envy!" she complained, taking a sip of her beer.

Naruto laughed. "But you know, I had a lot of time to think" he said, still with a smile.

"To think? Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" she laughed.

"Very funny" Naruto said squeezing his nose, Sakura just smiled along. "But seriously."

"Ok, ok" she said sitting straighter, but keeping a small smile.

"I was…" Naruto shrugged his shoulders and let out a sigh.

"Oh my god, Naruto, please don't tell me you're going to confess to me" she said suddenly with a horror look on her face.

Naruto started coughing. "No, no, at all! What the hell gave you that idea?" he said while shaking his head as fast as he could. Sakura let out a relief sigh. "It does involve confessing, though"

"Are you going to confess to Hinata?" she asked suddenly.

Naruto opened his mouth and closed it immediately. "No…" he said slowly.

"Oh...then what is it?" she said, puzzled.

"Did you confessed to Sasuke?" he asked, her face light up in red and made her look down immediately, but soon her face changed to a sad one. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked" now he regretted it.

"No, it's okay" she said, letting a sigh out. "I did, actually" and another, looking up to him. "But he said that" she paused again, took a deep breath. "he didn't feel the same thing. That he cared for me, and still thought of me as a friend, like a sister. But nothing more" she sighed again, but with a smile on her face. "I guess I'm still happy he doesn't hate me or something"

"He would never hate you." he assured her, dying to tell her about the letters.

"I know" she said. "And before you ask, I'm okay" she added, looking right into Naruto's eyes. "Sorry I didn't tell you before, I was still processing it myself" she explained.

"I understand. Actually, sorry for bringing it up. I was watching this comedy show and this girl was confessing to this dude and, I don't know, reminded me of you" Naruto laughed.

"Jesus, Naruto, that was your day, wasn't it?" she burst out in laughter. "You were just in bed watching tv and eating instant ramen!"

"Busted" he admitted with a nervous smile.

"You're unbelievable" she laughed. "Let's talk about something else, shall we?" she said, again sitting straighter. "What is this about you not confessing to Hinata yet" she pouted, crossing her arms.

"What is there to confess?" Naruto asked puzzled.

"You don't like her?" she asked, worried.

"I mean, I do, she's cool, but…" he started saying, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't like like her, or at least I don't think so"

Sakura snorted, letting her body fall into the chair.

"Ugh, what's up with you guys? First Sasuke and now you" she complained. "I can't believe it"

"Sorry!" Naruto cried. "I don't know what to tell you. I know she likes me, okay? I'm not deaf or blind, but I don't know if I can respond to that. I have many things on my head right now" Naruto sighed. "Why does life have to be so complicated?" he complained lowering his head in a playful way.

"Let's focus on eating and having a good time, then" Sakura sighed as well, drawing a smile.

Naruto returned it. "Sure, no more love talk, please" he said, she nodded.

"No more love talk" she repeated and they both cheered with their beers.

After finishing eating, Naruto hugged her goodbye and they both went to their house.

Now he was ready to reply to Sasuke.

As soon as he came home, he saw the snake curled up in his bed, and the piece of paper and pen he had left to write the letter.

He sat down with a cup of milk and started writing.

Thanks for telling me all that.

Naruto looked at his finished reply for a while, rolled it up and tied it to the snake, who again disappeared as fast as it had arrived.

Despite stopping the "love talk", the topic didn't leave Naruto at all. Thinking about Hinata, why was it that he didn't like her the same way. Or that he thought he didn't. He had very rarely stop to think about that stuff, there was always something more important. But now there wasn't, and it was the weirdest feeling ever. Nonetheless, he fell asleep before his mind could ramble more on the subject.