Prelude
"Suicide Note"
Naruto wrote the note in blood. It was final. It said: I tried. I'm tired. I'm going to visit Sensei. Forgive me. Goodbye.
He left it on the dice in his apartment. He sat down in his tub. He stared at his wrists. He was losing blood. He laughed aloud, maddened by madness, humoured by endless bad ideas. Is it too late to back out of this one, he pondered. And then he did something he'd never done before. He had the old man's smoking pipe and a dime-bag of the finest grass in Fire Country. He stuffed the pipe and puffed 'til he was choking, coughing, and laughing all at once. And when the smoke got in his eyes, he saw Hinata—her ghost—sitting beside him, caressing his wound, holding his hand, staring into his eyes.
He told her, "I'm sorry."
"For what?" she said.
"I couldn't do it. I couldn't save you and I can't save them. I'm nobody."
She smiled and said, "Well of course not, Naruto-kun. But has that ever stopped you before?"
"I'm sorry," he said.
"I know," she said.
Naruto passed out long before he bled out; long before anyone found him and his note. It was not death from loss of blood. He died of a heart attack, presumably induced by his wounds. He was found with a pot-pipe in his mouth and a grin on his face, his eyes blood-red and his skin pale. He was buried with dignity. He was honoured.
He knew then, as he made his way out of the south-side tunnels, out into the dense maze of forestry he'd mapped out, down to the last leaf, that he had accomplished his goal. His funeral was a grand affair. The tears he saw were torrential, like rainstorms. Nothing fake about 'em.
He knew then, as he passed the thin, tall tree with the notch in its third branch, that he didn't have to wait.
He knew then, as he landed on his own two feet beside Sasuke, that he didn't need to become Hokage for everyone to acknowledge him. They already did. Perhaps, that is the person who becomes Hokage, he wondered. Sasuke tossed a large pack at him, shaking him from his thoughts.
"Supplies," he said. "You ready, Naruto?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah. You?"
Sasuke snickered. "Not in the slightest."
Naruto laughed. The two set off into the setting sun, and by the time the night coloured the skies and the moon waned, they had already gone too far. This was their path now. They walked on it together this time. They were brothers.
A/N: This is a flash-forward. What follows are the events that lead up to this moment.
P.S. This is a rewrite of "Naruto, an Epic," one of my stories that I realized was becoming too rushed and inconsistent, so I thought I would redo it, this time taking my time to plot things out.
Anyhow—enjoy the read, and drop a review. I'm open to criticism (negative or positive), and am especially keen on improving my prose. For those that wish to simply read and enjoy, thank you for reading. Those who review, let me know your thoughts about my style and the story :) and since this is fan fiction and not written in stone by Kishimoto-Sensei himself, I'm always open to suggestions about where you, my trusty readers, would like to see this story go.
