"Come on Sasuke," Naruto walks backwards with a grin as we make our way out of the hokage tower. Naruto had almost immediately decided to leave once Tsunade had given him the answer that he wanted and I had to follow immediately after. The council didn't seem too pleased about Lady Tsunade's decision so I think that they'll probably have some people watching us for the first couple of weeks and I don't think that either of us can screw up by leaving each other's presence.
"Why did you do this Naruto?" I ask after we've been walking for a while. I know where we're going. I may not know this path as well as Naruto does, but I did go up to the Hokage's faces every once in a while before I abandoned the village.
"I told you that I wanted to bring you back," Naruto replies easily. "I promised that you wouldn't die if you came back by your own will."
"You never promise me that," I point out because, really, he hasn't. He told me that it was a possibility that I would be allowed to live, but even I knew that it was slim. It was even proven to be slim during my judgment. If Naruto hadn't been there, I know I would have been dead.
"I never said it out loud," Naruto agrees with me and suddenly I realize. Naruto made that promise to himself. He promised himself that he wouldn't let me die and then he promised himself that if he could just get me to come back on my own then I wouldn't be killed. You really shouldn't have made those promises Naruto, I'm afraid that you aren't going to like how this all turns out in the end because now you're stuck with me.
"Where are you going?" Naruto asked after a moment of contemplative silence. I looked only to notice that he was not heading towards the faces anymore. While I was still in my head I had been just letting my feet take me there.
"I don't know," I answer. I thought we were going to the faces, but now I'm not so sure. The path that he's taking does not lead towards.
"Come on," Naruto says. "I'll show you the right way up."
Will you really do that Naruto? Will you really be able to show me the right way up and out of this darkness that I've dug myself into? I believe that you will try, but I don't think you know exactly what your promising with those words. I might just drag you down into this darkness before you are able to save me. But, still, I'll follow you anywhere.
"Where are we going?" I ask after a moment. I thought I recognized where we were going before, but now I have no clue where we even are. The only thing that I can tell is that we're going up and into the mountain that held the faces.
"It's a secret," Naruto grinned back at me. He seems so excited to be showing me to wherever we're going. But one thing that did strike me was Naruto's choice of words. If there is one thing that I have learned about Naruto over the years, it is that he always chooses his words carefully. He never says anything that he doesn't mean. The fact that he said secret instead of surprise speaks volumes about this place because it means that Naruto has actually kept it a secret from everybody. And now he's deigning to show me this secret place.
Naruto you really are too good for me, but you don't think that do you. I can see it in the way that you look at people. You don't think you're too good for anyone. You think everyone is too good for you. Oh Naruto you are so wrong.
"Here we are," Naruto smiles as we break through the top of the cliff and onto a meadow that I had never seen before. There are wild sunflowers all over the place that have grown far past both Naruto and my heads. Amongst them, Naruto looks like one of their children. Or maybe he looks like a child of the sun, as its rays seem to reach him no matter where he takes himself. "Do you like it Sasuke?" he asks with a smile.
"Of course," I agree. How could I not like it when you're here to make everything better? You are too good for me Naruto, but I think that you might actually succeed in helping me find the right way up.
