Disclaimer: Many fics later, I still don't own Naruto.
I can only watch as you watch her. You watch her with eyes completely different than the ones you look at with me. I can see it when you do. In your eyes, will I forever be the dobe? The baka?
You were my rival so long. However, somewhere along the line, you became much more then that. Somewhere in the time that's past, I realized that while I loved Sakura, I wasn't IN love with her. I was in love with you.
I didn't want to love you. I fought against it and I denied it. But every time we fought against other ninja's, you were the one I was worried about. When I trained, I realized I trained so that you would no longer be protecting me, but I protecting you.
I know Kakashi realizes this. Maybe because Kakashi was in the same situation with Iruka. Oh and trust me, I knew about that. Sometimes that one eye of his will give away everything. However, what's that they say - "A master cannot fool a master." And we both were masters at hiding our true feelings.
I have been loud, and I may have been obnoxious, but it was a cover. Regardless of what I let on, I was still a child, a child with no parents, and no friends. Of course, their words actually affected me. In a way, they were all I had.
However, those words did push me to become who I am. Push me train harder and longer. Push myself to lengths that nobody realized. I wonder if you'll ever realize just how far I've come. If you'll ever see me with eyes that look at Sakura. But I don't think I'll ever know. I've spoken to the Hokage about leaving Konoha. She understands why. Probably more so then I'd like her to.
I have her permission to leave any day. I think I need to. Get away from the people who judge me with no knowledge. Away from you. Because I can't stand seeing, you watch her with those eyes. Those eyes that share everything you're feeling. Moreover, so much is hidden behind them, and I mean more than just your hand-me-down Sharingan, more than just the eyes of the last Uchiha.
More than just a boy set on avenging his family. What I see hidden behind those eyes is you. One thousand feelings and one million emotions. You are so easy to read. But maybe, I've just learned the right language to know how.
I watch as you train with her as you used to train with me. How you push her to go further because you know she can. You don't know I'm leaving. I want it that way. Will you even notice that I'm gone?
I drop my pen after finishing my last note. One for Iruka, telling him where I'd be, one to Kakashi explaining everything he needed to know, and one... this one to Sasuke. Even if I never saw the baka again, I should at least tell him somehow.
I'm not running away, I'm not. It's more like, leaving behind a past to be forgotten. I want to leave this village as the opposite of what I had always strived for, with anonymity. I want Uzumaki Naruto to be forever forgotten.
And so, I delivered my notes, and locked my door one last time. I roof leapt over to Sasuke's. Noticing he wasn't home, I left two things upon his doorstep.
A note, and my headband marking me a member of the Konoha, of which I was no longer part. And with a few quick leaps, Naruto was gone.
He was gone before the boy with raven black hair could notice him leaving and to never return. Before he could see the boy gasp when he saw the band, and read the letter. Or the two words that had escaped from his mouth. "Naruto, aishiteru." The boy would never get the chance to return his feelings. Would never know that when he looked at Sakura that he was actually imagining what life would be like with Naruto, and if Sakura would ever accept it. Would never know that he trained with Sakura because being that close to Naruto without actually having him for his own drove him crazy.
But he would know when Sasuke showed up on his doorstep years later. He would know when Sasuke demanded that he stop being such a baka and come back, because Sasuke had just wasted two years of their life "trying to find you, you stupid dobe." And he would finally, be happy.