Naruto traveled for the rest of the night, he knew that the council would not be happy to find that the Kyubi had left and would most likely send people to kill him. He had no doubt that his friends would come looking for him as well, they had all been through a lot together. Naruto had left a note in his apartment, leaving some of his most precious things for his friends. To Sakura he had left his and Sasuke's hetai-ait, Choji had his entire stock of instant ramen, and so on. He hoped that the apology in the letter would be enough for his hard won friends but deep in his heart he knew it would not be.
The full magnitude of what he had done did not hit until after he had set up camp and started to boil water for his meal. The blond laughed nervously to no one as he realized his hands had begun to shake. He flung to bag he had been searching through to the ground and buried his face in his hands, Naruto's whole body was shaking now and he drew in a choked breath before letting out a yell that reverberated through the woods. The single anguished sound held all of his thoughts and emotions, the blond had managed to throw away his one chance to realize his dream of becoming Hokage in the time span of mere moments, all the friends he had worked so hard to get, every ounce of respect he had managed to wrestle from the prejudice of the villagers. It was all gone and he was alone once more. The fire slowly died but went unnoticed by Naruto as his overwrought mind finally took control and forced him into the realm of sleep.
Naruto slept late into the next day but woke to find himself covered in a blanket and the smell of ramen in the air. 'who?' His body was sluggish in its responses, he felt leaden and sore after last night. He opened his eyes and sat up, rubbing at his face.
"I'm glad your awake." He turned his head sharply, giving himself a crick in the neck, and found that his pink haired team mate was crouched over the small rekindled campfire.
"Sakura chan!?" He had expected them to look for him but he had hoped that he would not be found so soon or in such a sorry condition. She turned and handed him a cup of beef flavored ramen, her face was very serious. "Ahh, thank you Sakura chan!" He put a huge grin on his face as his stomach protested its lack of dinner the previous night. They ate in silence; the only sounds were Naruto and Sakura slurping at their breakfast. Once he was done with his second cup Naruto cast a hungry eye at his pack but decided to stop there, he settled in and waited for his friend to say something.
"Naruto." She started and stopped, trying to find the right words. "Naruto…I know how you feel, no actually I don't but I know why you are going. Kakashi sensei told us." She was quiet, maybe waiting for Naruto to say something but when he didn't she kept going. "Anyway, umm, we all - I mean your friends…this isn't coming out right." She said and just handed him a letter. "We all have a copy of that letter. I was just lucky to be the one to find you first." Naruto read the letter once, and then again. He never expected this.
"Thank you Sakura chan." The blond spoke in a whisper, not trusting his emotions enough to anything louder. He wrapped his arms around her as she pulled him close.
"We won't try and stop you. We want Sasuke back too but if you ever need any help don't hesitate to ask, you can get word to us through Garra, Tenmari has been coming and going whenever she wants for a while now so it wont look suspicious." She paused before finishing her thought, tightening her hold round his shoulders. "Remember, we do want Sasuke but if we lost you as well I don't think we would ever be the same so you better not get yourself killed." Naruto laughed through his tears.
"I'll try not to Sakura chan." She pulled away and wiped her own eyes.
"I'm glad I found you first, I wanted to give you this." The pink haired girl pulled out a small brown wrapped package and presented it to Naruto. It's the very last bit of that healing ointment I made. I know you probably don't need it but I want you to have it anyway."
"Thank you Sakura, this means a lot, tell everyone 'thanks' for me." Sakura helped Naruto pack and break camp, they said one final farewell before they both turned and walked in opposite directions. Naruto felt much better then he had the night before, his friends were still there for him, he wasn't alone at all.
AN: feedback is nice, and I still want your opinion on what to do with future chapters. I want to thank my two revewers, wstphl and Dark Toy. so yeah, thanks!