"Naruto," called Sakura. She closed the door behind her and quickly blocked out the fierce winter air. Konoha was never like this. She hadn't even seen snow so deep until they arrived in the land of Iron. Now it piled up to the doorknob with ease. If it hadn't been for the neighbors warning they would have been buried in. In a nation devoid of chakra, they had been subjected to natural problems Konoha never had. It was something to be respected. They knew the best way to shovel snow without depleting stamina. They knew how to climb trees and use tools. It was humbling to know that without chakra naruto and her would be completely helpless in most instances.

For a second she thought she was alone in their small house. Naruto hadn't answered her. Walking over to the window her green eyes surveyed the landscape. It was clean white for as far as she could see. The kind shopkeeper and his daughter walked hand in hand using the netted foot devises they had taught Sakura of, even if she struggled. Yes she could easily sneak a little chakra into her feet without anyone noticing and it would save her quite a bit of embarrassment and snow to the face, but she couldn't do that. She had pledged to avoid any talk or usage of ninja origin. She had done enough to Naruto. She refused to be the cause of even more hardship for him.

The shopkeeper turned and smiled, his eyes crinkling with the force of it. She raised her hand and gave a smile of her own. Everyone was so nice here. They were so nice to Naruto. She'd never been that in tune with his treatment in Konoha. That must have been because she was on the opposite side of it. She was one of the girls who would put him down. Still she would like to think she was better than some of the adults she had heard about.

Sasuke had once told her about the time a shopkeeper pushed Naruto out of the shop and refused to take his money. Ino had told her of the time the higher ups forgot to give him a monthly allowance and Inoichi had been the one to discover this and fix it. Only after 21 days had passed. It explained why Naruto seemed to be a little stingy with his money.

And the story that got to her the most was when he came down with a pox. He'd been missing for a week from school. It wasn't like no one noticed On the contrary everyone was aware of his absence. Nobody cared though. Sakura had realized that nobody ever cared about the boy. Not until he was needed when he mastered Senjutsu. Not until he was needed to bring down Pein and Kakuzu and opponents that had defeated the Hokages.

Here in the village he had nothing to offer them other than common work and a smile yet if news got out he was sick the entire neighborhood would show up with remedies and soups. Sakura felt that in this small village town Naruto could finally be happy. She decided that it was about time.

"You must be really thinking hard Sakura," laughed Naruto. He was shaking water from his head. Sakura pursed her lips slightly as thick drops rolled down his torso and disappeared into the towel at his waste. she wanted to tell him to put some clothes on. But didn't.

Sakura turned from the window. Her medical eye scanned his body composition briefly. His muscle was different now. His torso wasn't quite as built up but his legs had more muscle. His sides too. The intense work in the winter mines took its tole on his body.

"Ah, yeah," Sakura said. she pressed her hand to her chest and stared out the window with heavy eyes. "Ne, Naruto... I've been thinking. How do you like it here?"

Naruto shrugged. "I'ts good of course. I really like it here. Everyone's nice. Will you hand me that paper?" He motioned to a paper besides her. He crumpled it and tossed it into the fireplace, building the logs up around the kindling before striking a match. "You like it here too right Sakura?"

"Mhm, yeah. Iva is going into labor any day now. I'm thinking of moving her here until then. I just don't like her being on the opposite side of town."

"Where will she stay?"

"Your room. So you better clean it up!"

Naruto crossed his arms and peered back at her with a glare. "Eh! no fair! why don't you give up your room?"

Sakura didn't give him a response. "Put some water on will you?"

he followed her orders and placed the large pot over the fire before joining her at the table. "I wont be back until late tomorrow. I promised to help Rin get his cows in. He says that the big fronts finally coming. The town will be blocked off from the neighbors. The carts cant get through the roads like this."

"I should check our food and wood supply." Sakura nodded and glanced at the cupboards.

"I've already taken care of the wood. But I noticed Iva wasn't able to get enough this year." Naruto grimaced.

"Its been hard on her since her husband passed away. We have to have some to spare."

"Oh don't worry! Tsukasu and I are going to take care of a tree near his property. It's been close to falling since the lightning storm a few months ago. You remember it right? well we'll give the wood to Iva. If you help her with milking the goats we'll have milk through the winter too."

Sakura stared at him for a while, then covered her mouth and a small giggle escaped her.

"huh? what is it." He asked, his chair screeching against the floor as he poured the hot water from the fireplace into two mugs and added the tea bags. "What did I say?"

she shook her head. "Nothing. It's just... Naruto do you think we could just stay here? We could really make a life."

His mirth drained away. "Sakura..."

"I know you just wanted to stay until you were strong enough to defeat anyone trying to get Kurama... I know we were going to return when the Hokage died but... Naruto I think we could be happy here. I like it here. You like it here. They treat you better than those from home."

"No."Naruto shook his head. "I cant forget my friends there! Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, Ino, hinata... Sasuke. You miss them too right?And you miss being a ninja right?"

"If I wanted to be a ninja I would have dragged us out to the cloud or the sand. Gaara would have welcomed us." Sakura frowned. "Naruto I can see us living here forever. We can be happy. I'll miss my friends but we can write eventually. They helped us get out of the leaf. If it wasn't for Shikamaru and Hinata we'd be dead. They'd keep letters a secret."

"They're probably being watched."

"Naruto..."

He gave a small pained smiled and stalled with a sip of tea. "I... Would you be okay if we stayed here?"

Sakura shocked him by putting her hand over him and squeezing lightly. "Yes. I'd be so happy. I'll be a common doctor. I'll milk goats and make teas. You'll be a miner and help the neighbors cut trees and we'll be holed in all winter. We'll fish in the summer and take our goods to the market into town. We'll be just two people. Not war heroes. We'll be happy!"

Naruto nodded and then he smiled. "We'll be happy. I promise," Naruto stuck his thumb out and Sakura knew without a doubt, that in the end no matter what, they would be happy.