And thus begins the final chapter of the first arc, long may he reign.

Without further ado, and all that jazz.

Chapter 10: A Small Feeling of Loss

The trip back to the leaf, and the subsequent talks with the Hokage and his… advisor were a bit of a blur for Sasuke.

Saying he'd been tired would have been an understatement. He'd figured out the hard way that even an Uchiha could overuse the Sharingan if they were unfamiliar with it's power.

Still, Sasuke thought to himself as he sat in his bed at the hospital, I figured out that I can use Genjutsu.

He'd had a feeling he'd be able to. From what his father had told him, the Uchiha had always had a bit of a specialization in Genjutsu, largely due to the Sharingan's power. His brother had also been a Genjutsu prodigy, though that wasn't saying much, that bastard had been a prodigy in just about everything he tried.

Feeling a bit of bitterness seep into his thoughts, Sasuke instead focused in on the ceiling tiles, going through the motions of counting them again. He'd already done this ten or so times by now, but it was probably the only thing to do in this place at all.

I'll have to make sure I don't end up here again.

And wasn't that an odd thought? Shouldn't it have been Naruto sitting in this bed, while Team 7 all worried and fretted about him?

The boy had nearly died, had died, for a moment there, if what Kakashi said was true.

That masked teen, Haku, had killed his best friend.

His hand balled into a fist, crinkling the scratchy hospital sheets in his hands.

The door cracked open a moment later, and the sounds of frantic whispering filled his head. It was enough to draw him out of his thoughts, and he looked towards the door to see a mop of blonde hair trying to push it's way into his room.

Another head, one with pink hair and a red bow, tried to stop him from entering.

"I told you, you idiot, he needs his rest!"

"Oh c'mon, all he's done for the last 3 days is rest! What he needs now," There were some brief sounds of struggling, before the door launched open, and Naruto vaulted himself into the room. "Is some good old-fashioned fun!"

"You are insufferable." Sakura sighed, looking towards Sasuke, and waving at him when she saw he was awake.

"Hey guys." Despite himself, the black-haired boy smiled when he looked towards the two of them. It had been 3 days since he'd seen them, and he could undoubtedly say he'd missed them.

"Hey!"

"Yo."

"So, what are you guys doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Naruto smiled mischievously, laughing under his breath. "We're busting you out of here!"

Wait, what?

"We are not!" Sakura sighed out, resting her head in her hands with a pained groan. "We just came to check in on you, since we figured you'd be pretty bored."

Oh, that makes more sense.

"Well, I won't deny that." Sasuke chuckled slightly, before looking at Naruto with interest. "Naruto, why aren't you in here too, didn't you suffer any injuries in the battle?"

The boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, laughing nervously all the while.

"Well, apparently when I passed out after the fight, I was hurt all over, but once I woke up, all my cuts and stuff had pretty much healed."

So, Sasuke thought, rubbing his chin with one hand, it is the Nine-Tails.

"But isn't that cool!" Naruto shouted, smiling brightly as he looked between the tow of them. "I mean, I healed all over in just a few hours! I might be like… Some kind of Super-Soldier!"

Sasuke thought that the boy in front of him had put 2 and 2 together and gotten 8, but chose not to burst his bubble just yet.

"Could you guys keep it down over there, some of us are trying to sleep!"

An older voice sounded off from their right, and they all turned to see Zabuza Momochi, bandages running halfway along his upper arm.

Thinking back, Sasuke remembered that the nurses had said it was normal for similarly injured comrades, those who came back from missions in the same general condition, to share a room together, as it often kept the stress levels of all involved down.

He was fairly sure she didn't know that the man she was talking about was a world-renowned assassin, famous as the Demon of the Mist, but he hadn't felt like commenting about it then, so he'd ended up with Zabuza as his roommate.

It hadn't been the worst thing ever, but it hadn't been particularly fun either.

One reason was that that damn masked boy, Haku, wouldn't stop checking in on him, and Sasuke had to keep seeing him, had to keep being reminded of his failures.

And maybe it wasn't his fault, and maybe the boy was actually really nice, and had apologized several times more than was strictly necessary. That didn't mean he would forgive him, or that he felt any better about the fight.

If one could even call it that. They'd been trounced, with barely any room for counterattack at all. They had come up with one singular plan the entire battle, and even it was defeated only a few minutes later.

Just thinking about it had Sasuke grinding his teeth together, twisting his fist further into the sheets of his bed.

He could still feel that small helplessness, like their lives were in someone else's hands, like they had no options at all.

He had decided all that time ago, when his brother had killed his entire clan, that he never wanted to feel like that again.

A hand on his shoulder had him looking up, and it was to find the worried face of his teammate, Sakura, gazing down at him.

He nodded back at her. He was fine, really, and he knew, pragmatically, that he was being a bit childish about all of this. It didn't stop him from feeling a bit angry, though.

Especially when that same boy from his thoughts walked into the room a second later, holding a bouquet of what looked to be hand-picked flowers.

Gone was the green haori of before, which had been damaged by his own kunai when he stabbed it into the boy's stomach, replaced now by a pink kimono. In Sasuke's opinion, it made the boy look even more like a young woman, but he kept such thoughts to himself.

"Zabuza sir, I've come to check in on you." Haku spoke evenly, though to him it sounded forced out, his eyes never once straying to his right, where the three of them stood quietly.

"Yeah, Brat, I know," The assassin sighed out, looking towards his student with a tender expression, but also one that held clear annoyance. "You've been saying that as you visited me every 3 hours for the past 3 days. Ever single time bringing new flowers. I told you, I'm already healed, they're just doing some final check-ups."

The boy coughed, looking down at the floor. It didn't stop him from walking over and replacing the man's 'old' flowers with the new ones, nor did it stop him from immediately starting to ask the man if he'd had any pains or if anything new was happening.

Sasuke had to suppress a small laugh, as it bubbled up from his chest and threatened to spill out.

It was a cute display; anyone could agree with that.

"Uhm… Sasuke…" Naruto spoke quietly, which was the first signal that something was either very wrong, or the boy was trying his absolute hardest to be serious. "Can you walk yet?"

"I can, but they say I can't." Sasuke grumbled, gazing down at his hands as they crumpled the sheet between them, before he looked back up towards his friend. "Did you… want to talk?"

Naruto squirmed a bit but nodded silently.

Even the Mist duo, who had been ignoring their conversation thus far, seemed to hear them.

"Hey Haku!" Sakura shouted out, smiling slightly as the boy turned towards her with a dumbfounded expression. "Where did you get those flowers?"

"These?" The boy pointed towards the vase, and when the girl nodded, he continued. "I picked them outside, from the garden in front of the hospital."

"O-Oh," The pink-haired girl's smile became just a bit forced. "That's, uhm… not entirely allowed."

Haku went pale white, before bowing fully.

"My sincerest apologies, I had no idea that-"

"It's no problem, no problem!" Sakura spoke out, before she turned towards Zabuza. "Tell you what, since you won't be able to pick any more of the flowers out front, why don't I take you two to somewhere they sell flowers instead?"

Sasuke realized what she was doing a second later, smiling subtly.

Thanks, Sakura.

The assassin of the mist caught onto it as well, sighing slightly, before pulling his legs to the side of the bed, and stepping off. He stood a second later, though Haku looked to be trying to support him, even if the man didn't need it.

"That sounds like a good plan to me, what about you, Brat?"

The boy in question looked a bit confused but nodded a second later.

"That sounds good, Zabuza sir."

The man turned back towards Sakura.

"Lead the way, girl."

"Will do!" Sakura smiled, looking back towards the two of them and nodding, perhaps just a bit sadly, as she marched out of the room with her entourage in tow.

It took a few seconds for the silence to fade, as Sasuke finally worked up the courage to say something.

"So… uh…"

Nice, Sasuke, really nice.

"I uhm…" Naruto, it seemed, was also having some issues coming up with what to say.

Sasuke sighed, realizing that it was probably best to trigger the paper bomb directly, rather than dance around it their entire conversation.

"You died."

Naruto coughed, briefly choking on air, before he brought himself back under control, looking towards Sasuke a bit oddly.

"I really didn't think you'd come out and say that!"

"Honestly? Neither did I." He admitted, sitting up in his bed and leaning back against the wall behind him. "But… one of us had to."

"Yeah, I guess…"

Another bout of silence, but this one was much more short-lived.

"I spoke to it."

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and a chill ran down his spine. He looked up at his friend, but the boy wasn't meeting his eyes.

"The Nine-Tailed fox spoke to me twice, once when I… went berserk I guess, and once after you guys saved me." Naruto shivered slightly, whether out of fear, or disgust, or maybe just because the boy was cold, he couldn't tell. "It told me that it had a plan for me… I think it's going to keep trying to take over my body…"

Naruto exhaled with some force, before he looked back up at him, seemingly unafraid.

"I decided… that I'm not going to let that concern me."

"What!?" Sasuke practically screamed out, gazing into his friends eyes for any sign of deceit.

He found none.

"If I just sat and lived my entire life in fear, then if the Nine-Tails did manage to take over my body, I wouldn't have done anything at all!" Naruto spoke, seeming incredibly proud of himself. "So, I just decided to worry about it when it comes up again, but not before then."

"That's…"

Stupid. Asinine. Foolhardy.

"So like you." Sasuke smirked, snickered slightly, and then gave into his mirth a second later, laughing for quite a while before he could get himself under control.

"Also… about that stuff I said about being Hokage…" Naruto muttered quietly, sitting at the end of his bed, but facing away from him. "I…"

"Don't worry about it."

"Wha-? But you seemed so sad, I just wanted to…" Naruto seemed to fumble around some words in his head, but whatever he arrived at didn't seem to satisfy the boy.

"I told you, Naruto, it's fine." He smiled, even if the boy couldn't see it. "You were dying, or at least, you thought you were. You probably just said things you didn't mean."

Naruto stilled. Even from behind, Sasuke could see the boy's thoughts warring in his head, as he gripped the sheet in his hands.

"Y-Yeah! That must've been it." The boy turned back towards him. The smile he gave was hollow, more so than he'd ever seen it. It felt like if he touched the boy, he'd simply crumble into dust.

"Naruto?"

"I've gotta go, y'know, training and stuff!" The boy stood off of the bed, his face a complicated mess of emotions. "Sorry about leaving you here all by yourself, I know it must be-"

The boy stopped as Sasuke grabbed his arm, holding him in place.

"You will become Hokage."

Naruto's face blanched.

"W-what are-"

"I said you'll become Hokage!" Sasuke seethed, his teeth grinding together as he looked the boy in the eye. "Or you'll become a hero, or a househusband, or a painter, or whatever else it is you want to do!"

The boy in front of him stood stunned, unable to do anything but listen as he practically shouted at him.

"Whatever it is you want to do; you can do it! Those people in the shopping district, or the ninjas who used to pour things on you, or the kids who'd call you names, you don't need to listen to them! You should ignore them, cast them aside, forget all about them! As far as I'm concerned…"

Sasuke felt a familiar feeling in the back of his head, and realized with a small shock that his Sharingan had swirled into being.

"They can all go to hell!"

His breathing was heavy as he released his grip on Naruto's arm, falling back onto his bed with a pain behind his eyes.

His friend opened his mouth to speak, but the only noise that escaped him was a small squeak, like he'd lost his voice, but still tried to talk. A few seconds later, the boy turned around, and made for the door.

He stopped short, his hand resting along the frame, running up it in silent contemplation.

"I want to."

It was a quiet voice, and it didn't carry well in the small room, but Sasuke heard it.

"Want to what?"

Naruto looked back towards him, smiling a bit sadly.

"I want to become Hokage."

And with that, his friend walked out, and Sasuke was left alone.

His confidence, screaming out that he would become Hokage, seemed missing, instead replaced by a desire. He didn't know if he could anymore, perhaps he'd always been faking it, a false bravado, for his own sake.

But for Sasuke, just the knowledge that he still wanted it, still sought after his goal, was enough.

It meant he could seek his own, as well.

He laid back down, content to try and sleep again, until the nurses released him.

And yet, for some reason…

It never came.

/-/

The Leaf Village, Haku decided, was a bit too warm for his liking.

Everyone, everywhere, was just a bit too friendly, just a bit too nice, that it almost seemed fake. And maybe it wasn't, maybe everyone here was actually as nice as the performances they put on, but it didn't feel that way to him.

Kirigakure was not an overwhelmingly hostile place, not by any stretch of the imagination. It's ninja program could be, of course, and it was for that reason that it had earned its reputation as the bloody mist. Still, from what he'd seen, civilian life was much the same as it was here.

But the people were colder, more introverted, and Haku honestly thought he liked it better that way.

Still, Sakura was nice, that he could say with certainty. The girl was leading he and his master through Konoha, occasionally waving to someone or another in the crowd, or pointing out an interesting landmark to him, or buying him a sickly sugary treat (that he had a hard time not instantly devouring).

As she walked them into what he could only assume was the flower shop she spoke of earlier, shouting out "Ino!", he saw the girl behind the counter.

She's pretty.

It was a fairly blanket statement, and Haku felt it didn't really do the girl justice. She was gorgeous, in the same way that a sunflower was. She seemed to blot out the rest of the world, and as he focused in on her platinum blonde hair, and her pale blue eyes, he didn't think he'd ever seen someone quite so beautiful.

She walked over towards Sakura, and as the two conversed, he quickly realized that the girls must've known each other. The blonde, who's name he picked up was Ino, smiled and laughed along with many of the things the pink-haired girl said, in a way that seemed familiar to him.

He stood a bit too straight as the girl looked over to the two of them, Zabuza standing just a bit behind him. The girl waved at him, giving him a small wink as well, as she walked over, and Haku felt his cheeks might have caught fire.

"Yo, brat, you alright?" His master called from behind him, sounding not too worried.

"Y-yes, sir, I'm fine." He spoke back, taking a small step towards the girls, who looked over at him with a small curiosity.

"You just look like you're burning up is all." His sensei spoke, not looking down at him, but instead taking a step into the place, grimacing slightly, and remarking. "Gods, but I hate places like this."

"Z-Zabuza sir!" Haku felt the need to defend the shop he'd been in for perhaps 30 or so seconds.

Why, though? I don't even like it all that much.

"And we hate you too, sir." The blonde called out, smiling at her own joke.

It must've been a good one, because it had the man chuckling for a moment.

"Alright, fair enough." His sensei gestured towards him, giving him the initiative. "This brat here wants to buy a bouquet, and honestly, I don't know a damned thing about em'."

"That's fine, I'm more than adept at handling first time customers." The girl's voice was overly friendly, and even if Haku knew, deep down, that it was only because she was trying to take their money, it didn't fail to make his heart skip a beat.

What is this thing I'm feeling?

He realized with horror that the girl in front of him had been waiting for him to say something for at least 5 seconds.

"Uhm, Hello." He bowed deeply, before raising back up, his face redder than a tomato. "My name is Haku."

From off to the side, he thought he could see his master's bemused face.

"Yes, I know." Ino smiled a bit awkwardly. "Sakura just introduced you."

"Oh…" He laughed nervously, trying not to draw out a kunai and kill himself then and there, just to save himself the embarrassment. "Did she?"

"Oh my god." Zabuza spoke quietly, but not quite quiet enough for them to unable to hear him. "This isn't happening."

"Yes, but, just in case you hadn't heard, I'm Ino Yamanaka." She bowed slightly, clearly trying to reign this conversation back under control.

He was perfectly content to allow that, seeing as how he'd been making an ass of himself this whole time.

"Well, do you have any idea where you'd like to start? Any particular flowers you like the look of, or even just your favorite color?"

"I-I like sunflowers."

I don't. I don't like sunflowers at all. What is happening?

Over on the side of the shop, he could see Zabuza's head fall into his hands, and heard him mutter something that sounded vaguely like "Puberty."

Well, whatever the hell this puberty thing was, it didn't seem to be helping him much at all.

/-/

Kakashi sat silently, rereading for perhaps the thousandth time his favorite book in the Icha-Icha franchise.

"Kaaaaaaaaaakasshiiiiiii!"

Or it had been quiet, until a leotard wearing man came flying in through his open window, spinning dramatically upon landing, and shooting him a thumbs up.

"Hey Guy."

"Yo!" Guy spoke out as he brought a folding chair out of what might as well have been thin air, setting it down in front of his bed and sitting on it. "How've you been?"

"What's with the awkward small talk?" Kakashi smiled under his mask, eyeing the man curiously. "It's not much like you."

"Ah, my students, well, two of them, anyways, have told me I should try to be more approachable recently, so I've been striving to act more normally." Guy brought his hair back with his hand, and the grease in it coated it in a bit of a gross way. "How was it?"

"Eheh… maybe just do you" Kakashi said, feeling a bit bad for the man, but knowing he'd rather have him be honest.

"Ah, you see, that's what my other student, Lee, said, and I quite like him, so I figured I'd give the other's plan a shot, but then just trust Lee's opinion."

Anyone who thinks Guy should just be himself is probably not all there themselves.

Maybe I shouldn't say that.

"That's good."

"Isn't it? My team's coming along quite nicely, in fact, I think they're more than ready to be able to enter this year's Chuunin Exams!"

"Ah, yeah… I'd been planning on entering my team as well."

"W-what!?" Guy seemed genuinely shocked, looking at Kakashi a bit differently. "Oi, Kakashi, you've only been training your kids for what… a month or two? That's not long enough for them to build the skills necessary for the Exams, and you know that."

"Heh, were we given any time?"

The man in front of him sighed, eyeing him annoyedly.

"That was different, those times were different. We can afford to properly prepare our students for what they might face now."

"I think one of the reasons the both of us survived our greatest hardships," Kakashi leaned forward, propping his head up with one arm. "Is we were thrust into situations we weren't necessarily prepared for and forced to adapt."

"That's true, and it's also true that many hundreds of hopeful students die every year because they were forced to enter a competition they were unprepared for." Guy squinted at him, seeming a bit annoyed with him.

"Oh, cool it," Kakashi waved his hand in the air, as if trying to dispel his friends anger. "I can't enter them now, anyways, the nurse says I'm going to be in the Hospital for the next 3 weeks. The Chuunin exams start up in only 2, and they need a functioning Jonin Sensei to compete."

"Hmph, well that's good."

"Good that I'm injured?"

"In this case?" Guy smirked to show he was kidding around. "Yes."

Kakashi laughed at the small joke.

"Nice to know you think so well of me."

"Still, were your students really that good?" Guy leaned back in his seat, his arms hanging off of the sides. He couldn't help but notice that even now, the man was curling a small set of dumbbells behind the chair.

"They're strong, and they have some serious potential."

"Define serious?"

"I'm talking old-school serious, Naruto's the… well… do you know about-"

"Your students a Jinchuuriki, yeah, I know about it." Guy smiled, though it was a bit forced. "It'd be hard not to, seeing as it was the only thing half the people in the village would talk about a few months back, 'they actually made the Nine-Tailed brat a ninja', and stuff like that."

"Well, there's also the last Uchiha, and then Sakura herself, who probably had the least potential on paper, soaks up new Jutsu like a sponge. I've already taught her how to do the Mud Wall, and how to tree-climb and water-walk. Hell, she nailed tree-climbing on her first attempt.

Guy chuckled a bit to himself, smiling in an almost proud way.

"You sound like a proud parent."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."

"No, I'm serious." Guy leaned forward, setting the dumbbells aside. "I'm happy for you, I'm glad you've been able to… get back on your feet recently."

Kakashi knew what the man was talking about, how he'd been near suicidal in some of his more recent Anbu missions. He hadn't thought it obvious to anyone else, but perhaps taking on missions solo, tasks that should've been handled by large groups, was a bit too conspicuous.

"Ah… yeah." He wasn't quite sure how to respond, and instead elected to sitting silently for the man in front of him to speak again.

Luckily, when it came to Guy, you often didn't have to wait long.

Unfortunately, when it came to Guy, you often didn't have the benefit of social cues.

"Just… after what happened to Obito, and then Rin and Minato…" Guy smiled a bit sadly. "I think we all thought we'd lose you some time or another… that one day you'd go on another one of your crazed missions and you just… wouldn't come back."

Erk… way to make me feel like an asshole Guy.

"I'm not sure if things are all that better," The man continued, standing up off his chair and folding it back up, walking over to the window. "Or if they're on the upswing, but know this, my friend."

Guy looked back towards him and gave him a toothy grin that seemed to shine, along with another thumbs-up.

"No matter what happens, we've all got your back!"

Kakashi felt that the words would've had more impact if the man hadn't immediately hurled himself out of a 4-story window, but the laughter still helped to keep his mood up.

Everyone…

How many of his old classmates were still alive?

Kurenai, Asuma, Aoba, Guy… Is that really all?

He was fairly sure he was missing one or two, he vaguely remembered Orochimaru, that bastard, having a student who'd been in their class, but couldn't remember if she'd survived the war.

Anko, or something?

He sighed tiredly. There'd been 32 kids in his class, and only a handful of them were still alive. He was willing to bet a few had retired after the war, choosing a home life as an alternative to warfare, but the rest…

Hadn't been so lucky.

He nearly laughed at that.

Am I one of the lucky ones?

The wound in his heart, the one that was so deep it didn't even hurt, gave a tiny ache.

Rin… Minato… Obito…

I don't feel all that lucky.

/-/

Naruto didn't quite know how to feel as he walked around the leaf village, nor did he really know where he was going.

Well, he knew where he was supposed to be going, but not particularly if he planned on being there.

Team 7, minus Kakashi, had been called to the Hokage's office in order for him to ask some questions about their mission, in order to corroborate Zabuza's story. That sounded good enough, and also like something he didn't really need to be there for.

Seeing as how he'd been on a monster-induced rampage the whole time.

"Naruto?"

The voice was familiar, but it was one he hadn't heard in quite a while.

"Iruka Sensei?" He turned around to see the form of his old teacher, brightly illuminated by the harsh sunset.

"Good to see you, Naruto!" His former sensei clapped him on the back softly, stepping in to walk alongside him. "What have you been up to lately?"

"Oh, you know… missions."

"That's odd." Iruka smiled wryly.

"What's odd?"

"You just didn't used to be someone who avoided questions." His teacher gave him a knowing look, and even if he was no longer his teacher, the man's old methods of getting him to talk still seemed to be working.

"I-I… Sensei… did you know about the Nine-Tailed Fox?"

His teacher let out a small gasp, before instantly swallowing it, forcing a small smile onto his face.

"Yes, yes I did."

He felt a flash of hot anger and rounded on the man with a growl.

"Why didn't you tell me then!"

"What?"

"If you knew… if you'd always known about it, then why the hell didn't you tell me! Why didn't anyone tell me!?" Naruto was aware that some of the people around them were giving him frightened looks, and that a few of the ninja had drawn weapons, but found himself unwilling to care. "Why did you just let everyone yell at me, day in and day out, without ever telling me why!?"

"Is Sasuke… Is he really the only one who cares about me at all!?" Naruto shouted out, nearly falling onto the ground, but catching himself before he could.

"Why's that kid screaming, mom?"

"Ignore him, dear."

"Nine-Tailed brat's getting uppity."

"Think we could use that as an excuse to put him down?"

"We'd be doing the village a service."

He felt a growing resentment, a feeling he'd kept caged for so long, burning in his throat. A few tears ran down his face, but he didn't much care.

He was about to scream out, maybe even turn and run at them, let them see the Nine-Tails' power for themselves, when Iruka put his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Hey, Naruto?"

"…What?"

"Could I treat you to some ramen?"

It was an innocent question, filled with no real emotion, other than perhaps a small sadness, a small feeling of loss, but he still looked up into his teacher's face.

The man wore an expression that shouted calm, which of course meant he was anything but. His brow was drawn down into a scowl, as much as he tried to hide it. The man was clearly as angry as he was, perhaps more so in a way.

Seeing the man above him look at him like that, Naruto couldn't quite describe it, but it made the feeling in his throat, that tightness, increase even more. He felt exhausted, and worn out, but he couldn't help the small tears that ran down his face as he collapsed onto the ground.

"I'm sorry…"

"You don't have to be sorry, Naruto, I understand."

"I… I'm sorry I yelled at you… and…"

"Then I accept your apology." His teacher offered him a hand, and Naruto took it a moment later, drying his eyes with his sleeve. "Now, really this time, could I treat you to some ramen?"

Naruto smiled, and even if he didn't feel like he was all there yet, he couldn't help but feel a bit happier as he accepted his teacher's offer, and the two walked towards Ichiraku side by side.

'I want to be Hokage'

Those had been his own words… his own real confidence, and not the usual bravado he spouted. Perhaps, realistically, he had a very small chance of becoming the Hokage.

But to hell with realism, it hadn't gotten him very far at all, because it turned out he had a giant demon fox sealed inside his stomach. So who said he couldn't become the Hokage, too?

Oh, just everyone in the village.

He ground his teeth together as his own treacherous mind fed him the dark thoughts he'd been holding back, trying not to sink into them.

It didn't do much for him, not until his friend's words practically rang out inside his head.

'They can all go to hell!'

He laughed slightly, trying to keep it under wraps, but couldn't quite help it spilling out of him a second or so later, as his calm facade broke down in his seat at Ichiraku. The duo behind the counter gave him an odd look, but still smiled that the boy who'd been a bit sad earlier could now laugh jovially.

To hell with them all, eh? That doesn't sound so bad.

Who cared what they all thought? They'd be proven wrong anyways, so why did it matter?

And maybe, if that niggling doubt still held in the back of his mind, then that was fine too. He'd prove himself wrong, as well. He'd keep up the facade, like he always had, as long as he had to.

He'd be the Hokage, he'd be the best damn Hokage this world had ever seen!

And don't any of you ever forget it!

End Chapter 10

Yo.

Getting back into the swing of things was harder than I expected, after I basically took a week off last week. I think my family's going to be moving in the coming months, which will most definitely put this story on hold, but until then, expect regular updates and stuff.

Also, if I'm being honest, I didn't read through this chapter as much as I normally do, so some sentences might be kinda crappy.

Chuunin Exams is next, and that'll be a good time. Our changes are going to start having a big affect on the world.

See you all next week!