Naruto yawned and stretched as he began to exit his bedroom. It had been a few days since his visit to the hokage and his deserted assassination attempt. In hindsight Naruto was glad he could control himself, but just thinking about it still gave him a strange feeling.

There was something else on his mind too. A day after his visit, he had gone back to the hospital in order to see Sasuke, who had just woken up.

He was expecting a friendly visit, especially considering the fact that they fought side by side to take down gaara, but he was not so lucky.

Naruto opened the door into the hospital room and he noticed that Sakura was already there, tending to Sasuke who was sitting up in bed. He seemed upset about something but Naruto paid it no mind.

"Hey Sasuke! Finally got enough beauty sleep?"

The two other occupants in the room turned to look at him and Sasuke seemed amused at his quip. Although, his face quickly returned to it's previous upset one.

"Hey Naruto" Sakura said. She seemed to be acting strangely, more akward than usual.

Naruto greeted her and then turned back to Sasuke.

"So how you feeling? That Gaara guy didn't mess you up too bad right?" He asked chuckling.

"He broke some ribs but other than that I'm fine." Sasuke responded.

"Oh that's right!" Sakura exclaimed. "I heard some pretty crazy stuff about you Naruto."

Sasuke perked up.

"You mean those rumo-" Sasuke cut him off.

"Everyone's talking about how you brought down the monster and saved the Hokage. They're talking about you like a damn hero."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess they are."

"Well is it true? Did you save the Hokage after I passed out?" Sasuke asked.

There was something in his voice that Naruto couldn't discern, he'd never heard Sasuke sound like that before.

Naruto responded slowly. "Well, yeah, I guess... I was just trying to help the anbu."

Sasuke's reaction could not be seen but he was fuming.

'When did he get this strong?! How could he have kept on going after fighting Gaara? If this was the Naruto I used to know, I would've just assumed he was lying, but... when we fought together, I could feel it, how much power he truly has.'

"But man, that was crazy wasn't it Sasuke? I didn't think we could actually beat that thing."

"Naruto... I want to fight you. Now."

Naruto and Sakura looked at him dumbfounded.

"Don't get me wrong I want to fight you too Sasuke but you just woke up, you cant fight yet!"

"Dont be such a wuss! Just fight me and I'll end it quickly."

"If we fought, you'd need a lot more time in this room." Naruto shot back.

"No Naruto you can't hurt him!" Sakura said.

This little comment made Sasuke even angrier.

'Hurt me? So she's seen his new powers too? ...and she thinks that he can beat me?!?' He roared in his mind.

"You won't fight me because you're weak and you know it." Sasuke snarled.

"Sasuke-kun that was uncalled for!" Sakura exclaimed.

"It's not like you're any better. You're even weaker than he is. You shouldn't be a ninja in the first place."

Sakura frowned and hung her head sadly, what he said was true which made it hurt even more.

"What the hell is your problem teme?!"

Sasuke stepped out of bed and got up in Naruto's face.

"It's you." he said with distain.

Naruto sighed, he wasn't expecting that. Maybe he and Sasuke will never truly be friends.

In the end he refused to fight the Uchiha.

As he exited the bedroom he immediately stopped in his tracks as he made eye contact with a familiar mask.

There on his couch sat Fukurō with his mask pushed up just enough so that he could shovel some instant ramen into his mouth. From the looks of it he was on his third cup.

"Yo" Fukurō said with noodles hanging out of his mouth.

"H-how did you get in here?"

Fukurō stared blankly at him before saying "I'm a member of the anbu black ops, give me some credit."

"Well then why did you come here? Besides to eat my ramen."

"You told me to find you when Hokage-sama woke up, so I found you."

"He's awake?!" Naruto nearly shouted.

"Yeah, he woke up two days ago but he had business to discuss. You can go see him now though."

Naruto basically teleported throughout his apartment while he got ready to leave. As he reached for the front door a voice stopped him.

"Hey kid, you think I can take one of these with me?"

Naruto looked over to see Fukurō holding another cup of instant ramen.

He chuckled and said "Yeah, sure." He opened the door, then paused.

"And Fukurō-san?"

"Hmmm?"

"Thank you"

"Anytime kid."

Naruto exited leaving the anbu standing alone in the apartment.

Fukurō sighed. "Man, that kid never catches a break does he?"

Fukurō looked down to see a blue dragon walking out from seemingly nowhere into view. It stopped and they locked eyes.

Suddenly Seiteki began to spark and growl. Fukurō threw his hands up in surrender.

"You want me to leave? Is that it?"

Seiteki continued to growl.

"D-did I step on a chew toy or something?! What is it?! What do you want?!" He asked desperately.

Seiteki growled louder and glanced at the cup noodles still in Fukurō's hands. He noticed this and glanced at the cup as well. His eyes kept slowly shifting between the dragon and the cup.

Then, In an instant Fukurō sped off towards the window, trying to escape, and Seiteki gave chase.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh fuck." Fukurō kept muttering as he ran across rooftops. No matter what he did he couldn't shake Seiteki off his trail.

There was a strange screeching sound coming from behind him, so Fukurō took a quick glance back. His eyes widened in shock.

"OH SHIT! AGHHH!"

Naruto was running through the streets on his way to the hospital, he was excited to see his jiji.

As he was weaving through the crowds he saw something strange. It was a girl with flowing red hair. She was in cuffs and being escorted by some shinobi. She was walking with a limp.

Naruto's whole world stopped for a moment as they made eye contact with each other. There were so many little things he could see, so many emotions that where swirling around in her heart. But there was one the ruled over them all, and it was fear.

'Where are they taking her? 'What will they do with her?' Naruto thought.

Time seemed to finally speed up as the girl and the shinobi walked by. Naruto quickly turned around and stopped one of the four shinobi escorting her. The others didn't seem to notice.

"Escuse me but, where exactly are you taking her?"

"The girl? We're taking her to T and I (Torture and interrogation), She probably doesn't know anything but I'm sure the boys over there will have fun anyway."

The man noticed that he was lagging behind and quickly excused himself.

Naruto stood frozen in place. The girl he had just spared was going to be brutally tortured for information she might not even have. He heard the rumors about Konoha's interrogation methods, they were the most effective of all the hidden villages and with good reason.

Naruto remembered standing in her hospital room, the way she looked at him.

'That's why she was so scared.' he thought in realization.

Naruto continued to walk towards the hospital. He was moving slower than before, it was evident that he had something on his mind. He reached the hospital room before he even knew it.

He paused, exhaled slowly and tried to clear his thoughts, then slid the door open.

He entered the room to see the sun filtering in through the windows. Hiruzen was in bed, he didn't look much better than the first time, still hooked up to many machines, but he was awake.

Naruto walked next to the bed and looked him over for a moment, the sadness plastered clearly across his face for Hiruzen to see.

"Naruto" Hiruzen said in a raspy voice.

"You came to see me, I'm glad." It seemed like he was trying to hide it but Naruto could hear it in his voice, he was in pain.

Naruto began to tear up, something the kage took notice of.

"I'm not long for this world Naruto-kun..."

Naruto jerked up as the old kage confirmed his suspicions, this was his deathbed.

Hiruzen continued to speak.

"But don't cry for me, Your fire burns birght and I know that you will make a fine man and a great Hokage."

Naruto burst into tears and collapsed, burying his face into the bed, beside the dying man.

"I should've have stopped this, I could've done more, I should've..." Naruto mumbled into the bed sheets.

"I know what you did that day Naruto-kun, and as a shinobi of the leaf village, I couldn't have asked for more. I'm proud of you."

Naruto didn't raise his head off of the bed but the tears lessened ever so slightly.

"Jiji... It's not fair... why do you have to die while that girl gets to live?... It's her fault... I should've killed her... but I couldn't."

Hiruzen quickly pieced together what Naruto was saying. His body was failing but his mind was still sharp.

"Well...why do you think that is?"

Naruto stayed silent.

"I know why. It's because you know what many others fail to understand. The weak seek out vengeance, but the strong find it in their hearts to forgive those who are worthy and live on... You saw a light in that girl didn't you? Something that made her worthy of your forgiveness, don't mistaken that for weakness or cowardice, you are strong Naruto!"

He went into a coughing fit as he finished his small lecture, there was a rattling sound coming from his lungs and it was getting harder for him to breathe. Naruto looked on with worry but after a minute Hiruzen caught his breath before speaking again. He wasn't finished with his life lesson, after all.

"The life of a shinobi is full of conflicts and violence, these things chip away at the body... Please Naruto, don't let this resentment chip away at your mind."

The young ninja let the wise words of his elder tumble around in his mind

"Forgiveness is for the strong"

"Don't let this chip away at your mind"

"You are strong Naruto!"

"You saw something in her, didn't you?"

He paused.

'What did I see in her? What made me stop?'

An image of her face came to the forefront of his mind. Eyes full of fear and loneliness, a frown full of sorrow, a tear formed from regrets.

"Ok..." Naruto said. "I'll try."

The wise kage smiled and placed his hand atop Naruto's head to comfort him. His hand was warm despite the fact that his time was running out, Naruto held back tears as he realized this would likely be the last time he felt this warmth.

"Naruto-kun, I have one final surprise for you."

Naruto sniffled. "What is it?" he asked.

"I spoke to Jiraiya yesterday and he agreed to make you his apprentice. Two days from now you will be going on a journey with him to find the next hokage. He will train you to be a great shinobi, I'm sure of it."

Suddenly the door opened revealing a nurse who entered and then spoke up.

"I'm sorry, but I need to perform a checkup on Hokage-sama, would you please exit the room?"

"But..." Naruto shifted his gaze from the nurse back to Hiruzen who gave him a weak but encouraging smile.

Naruto dropped his shoulders. "Ok..."

He got up and began to exit the room, taking one last look at the first person to ever care for him, he shut the door behind himself and began to walk away.

'I'm gonna make you proud jiji. I promise'

There was a feeling of determination welling up inside the young man. This was not a promise that could be easily broken.

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