The taste of the meat dish with huge serving of rice sent shivers down his spine and made Naruto realize that he never really had an experience with high class cuisine. He was used to simple foods even in the realm of normal people.

The food made by the Akimichi clan was special as the chef's utilized chakra to enhance the taste and benefits. It was food for people like him.

Eating such food for the first time, Naruto felt a desire to enhance his food choices. He wondered how chakra enhanced ramen would taste like.

Thanking Choji for the food and wishing him well, Naruto left the clan and walked towards Sakura. He could sense her sitting beside Sasuke's grave.

His footsteps seem to slow down automatically, showing his body's resistance. He felt terrible thinking about talking to her, but it needed to be done before their bond was destroyed.

He had promised that Sasuke would be back alive, but he only brought back a dead body. To him, it was a failure of a lifetime.

Sakura loved Sasuke more than anything, even her life. She had waited for him for years and now there was nothing left but memories to hold on to. Even in those memories, Sakura had nothing good to remember him by unlike Naruto.

It was unfortunate but Sakura never had a chance to experience affection from Sasuke, as the young man never saw her more than a nuisance.

Sakura understood that, but she believed she could have won his heart if he returned. Now the hope was gone and her first love would never live a happy life.

Just like how Sakura loved Sasuke, Naruto had loved Sakura once. He had sacrificed his life for her countless times. However, he understood there was no place for him in her heart and so he moved on during the trip with Jiraiya.

He realized it was just a childish crush and thought that Sakura was also the same. But, she persisted unlike him and never moved on.

Regardless of the changes, Naruto saw Sakura as a loved one. She took care of him and even put her life on the line for him. Though it was late and after countless fights, she did take his side in the end.

Arriving at his location, Naruto saw her sitting in the dark night beside the grave lit by the street lights. She seemed to be talking to him and stopped once she heard him coming.

They hadn't met since yesterday when she performed the operation, and now she felt awkward looking into his eyes since they were Sasuke's.

"Sakura, you should go home now. You have been sitting here for the whole day." Naruto hadn't seen her leave the sight even once and was worried about her mental state.

"Naruto, I am fine. I just want to catch up with him since I never got to talk to him. You know, he didn't give me a chance to talk." Sakura smiled at him and patted the ground indicating for him to sit.

Seeing her like that made him feel extreme heartache, he didn't know what to do in the situation. Without knowing the path and solution, he could only take a seat and hope to lessen her pain.

"You already know he was terrible in showing his feelings."

"Yeah, I wonder what he thought of me. Did he still see me as a failure? I wanted to know his thoughts so I shared my journey with him, but he can't respond anymore. Hey Naruto, tell me why did it happen? Weren't we fighting together? Didn't we win the war together? Why did you kill him?" Just like ice in the sun, Sakura's fragile mask melted away and showed her pain.

Tears fell like an endless storm and her words cracked from the heartache as she asked for the answers to questions that had been haunting her.

"It happened because I was too weak. He sacrificed himself for the good of the world."

"Naruto, tell me the truth. Why and what happened?" Sakura looked at him pleadingly as she held his shirt.

"I am not lying. Sasuke had two choices in mind, one was to kill me and the other was to sacrifice himself. And since he couldn't kill me, he decided to sacrifice himself. He believed that we could never work together as we saw the world differently and didn't want out conflict to destroy the world. By sacrificing himself, Sasuke believes that I would change in the manner that is needed to guide the world to the right path." Naruto shared what took place and the meat of their talk. It all boiled down to these two choices.

"Why do you two continue on such a path? We are not even 20 and yet you talk about such grand goals that not even the adults talk about. Why couldn't our life have been normal? Why couldn't you two become normal? No matter how hard I tried, I never arrived on the same stage and it doesn't even seem possible anymore. Why couldn't you two work together?" Sakura couldn't seem to understand what was wrong with her team mates and the world that was forcing them into such a role. She couldn't understand why it had to be given to such youngsters.

Hugging her tightly, Naruto stopped her from damaging the graveyard in her confusion.

"We couldn't work together because he wanted to kill every person that had committed a crime and could commit a crime."

"Tell me, was he going to kill me?...Naruto, WAS HE GOING TO KILL ME?"

"I don't know, Sakura. The only thing I know is that he was going to kill all the Kage and many others that could stand in his way. I am sorry, but he never talked about you. Just like I was trying to find my path in life, he was trying to find his own path and he chose the path of sacrifice like his brother." Naruto held onto her and stopped her body from moving which was only possible because he was in his Sage form.

It was unfortunate but Naruto believed that Sasuke would have killed her as well, like he would kill Kakashi and the others.

"What did he think of us?"

"He thought of us as family. He didn't hate us."

"You aren't lying, are you?"

"No, it is the truth."

"It's so unfair. Why couldn't someone have taken care of him? Why they allow him to live alone?" Sakura cried and shook as she asked those rhetorical questions.

Naruto didn't say a word as she continued to cry at the unfairness of the world. He stood strong to comfort her broken heart while feeling the pain within his own heart, which was still very much raw.

After what seemed like an eternity she fell asleep in his arms and Naruto dropped her off at her house. With the moon shining overhead, Naruto appeared atop the Hokage Monument and looked over Konoha.

'Are you afraid of facing your demons? How cowardly, Naruto.' Naruto heard the sarcastic tone from beside him as his sleep deprived mind conjured up his demons.

"I am not afraid of anything."

'Then, why don't you drop your sage mode?...Cat got your tongue, did I hit a sore point? You know I am right, you are afraid. Are you scared that they will kill you in your sleep? Hahahaha!'

"Naruto, what are you doing alone?" Walking through his delusions, Kakashi appeared behind him.

"Just thinking about things, what about you?"

"I am here to make sure that you have taken some rest. I know you haven't slept once after the battle, so there is no denying it."

"I see, grandma has been watching over me with that magic ball."

"Naruto, not sleeping will only make it worse. Follow me and sleep. I will be there for you while you rest." Kakashi understood the difficulties that came with friends dying. He had already gone through such an experience and knew what Naruto was feeling.

Knowing about Kakashi's past, Naruto saw that his teacher had seen through him. He couldn't sleep because of the nightmares. He had even started seeing ghosts while awake. And, he was worried that someone might take the chance to assassinate him while he rested. He couldn't keep his Sage mode on while asleep, nor could he utilize chakra enhancement while unconscious. It meant that his body was super human but it didn't require mountain destroying power to kill him.

"I will follow your lead, teacher. Please, teach me how to handle these problems and these eyes." Naruto didn't want to rely on the eyes, but he knew they were necessary. Without them he wouldn't have chance against someone like Kaguya.

Kakashi may have lost the Sharingan, but he had lived with it for around 2 decades. He was the only living master of the eyes.

"After you have rested and achieved a calm mindset, we will start training again." Kakashi agreed and he felt happy that he could help Naruto. To him Naruto was like a little brother and he had always wanted to protect and teach him. However, circumstances never allowed such a luxury. Even now it was not really a happy event and he needed to remake himself to support his little brother/student.

Otherwise, Naruto would live a lonely life without anyone understanding him.

It wasn't the first time Kakashi had watched Naruto sleep, but it was definitely the first time seeing him move around so much in his slumber. It was clear that he was seeing a nightmare.

It was worse than the time after Jiraiya's death and it hadn't even been more than a month since that tragedy.

Losing so much in such a short time was difficult for a child with such a mindset. Naruto cared too much about people and it was his loving heart that was harming him so.

Kakashi didn't understand how Naruto ended up with such thoughts, because not even Jiraiya acted in such a manner. Maybe it was the third Hokage, Kakashi assumed. Hiruzen Sarutobi saw the people of Konoha as his family, his children. By that logic, Naruto was seeing the world as his family. He was mixing up the concepts of his elders and finding his path to create a utopia where everyone could live in peace.

But, was such a thing even possible? Humanity would fight for even the pettiest reasons, so how the whole world could become disciplined he didn't know.

The only method would be for Naruto to overwhelm the world with his power and break resistance with extreme prejudice, and violence. He wouldn't have to kill people, but he would definitely break their spirits and show them fear.

However, even that would only last for a limited time because Naruto wouldn't torture them and he wouldn't kill them. Once people understood that pattern, they would keep on testing him until they killed him.

That was the unfortunate nature of their people. Kindness could be misinterpreted as weakness.

'We will have to support him from the darkness. Let him rule the world of light, and we shall take care of the shadows.' Kakashi understood Naruto's stubbornness and his selfless attitude, so he decided to act without arguing with the young man.

He wasn't alone either, since many people would agree to such a path. However, there could be a problem in the Hokage selection once they heard his thoughts. Kakashi didn't know if people would repay back the debt or resist Naruto's election. Naruto's methods would break Konoha and spread chaos in the long run.

'He will have to grow up a little bit before the majority agrees. Right now he isn't ready and he lacks knowledge about majority of the work of this village.' Kakashi thought as he planned for steps that could help his little brother achieve his dream.

Bang

With a loud explosion, Naruto woke up from his nightmare. Kakashi had barely stopped the destruction from spreading, but the house had been destroyed from the right side.

It seems Naruto had ended up using his chakra during sleep.

"Thank you for stopping me teacher." Naruto muttered as he got up from the ground and picked up a water bottle to drink.

He had only slept for an hour and the result was horrendous. The only good thing was that his body was almost fully rested, but not his mind.

He had taken multiple pills to sleep and even had Kakashi use genjutsu on him since sleep didn't come to him even though he was extremely tired.

Seeing Naruto's conditions and his powers, Kakashi finally understood the extent of the problem. Unless Naruto was healed, his slumber was a world threat.

He needed to sleep in a place where he couldn't harm people.

"Naruto, I know a place where you can sleep without a worry."

"Where?" Naruto didn't think he would destroy things in his sleep, but now he was definitely worried.

"Under water, it would be easier to manage any problem and you will be away from the city."

"How does that work?"

"It will happen naturally. Your body will adapt to it and make oxygen with chakra after a few tries. You have a large reserve so you don't have to worry about running out of gas." Kakashi shared one of the methods used by the ANBU to train and perform tasks. All Shinobi knew how to breathe underwater using chakra and how to heat up their body with chakra, but most didn't use it instinctively.

It wasn't something that Naruto had seen, so it had never come to his mind.

"Let's try it." With those words, Naruto floated above ground and focused on Kakashi. With his goal set in mind, Naruto used the mastery of chakra granted by the Six Paths powers to make his target fly.

Naruto manipulated the wind for Kakashi to fly and with that done, he sped towards his target. Within a blink of the eyes, he had reached the ocean that was near to the Land of Waves since the Ocean on the other side was where the Land of Water existed.

Flying past Land of Waves, Naruto and Kakashi stood above the Dark Ocean where no light could enter and most people avoided because of the monsters living in the deep.

Past the ocean was another continent where the Shinobi had yet to explore because of their constant wars, but the normal people would occasionally trade with them.

Arriving at their location, Naruto and Kakashi dove into the depths of the ocean that would crush metal and diamonds to dust.

In his mind, it was the safest place to rest as no one could target him there and he wouldn't disturb anyone except the monsters.

"You know, I was thinking of something safer like the Chrysalis Ocean." Kakashi said with a shake of his head as he was protected by Naruto in the depths of the ocean where he couldn't sense a thing. There was no light to see and even chakra was difficult to use outside of the body at such depth because of the heavy pressure from the nature energy.

It would was possible for Kakashi but still a task. However, Naruto provided the light as he used Senjutsu to create a sphere of light.

With the sudden appearance of a mini sun, the Dark Ocean shook with fury as the monsters were blinded by the ball of sunshine.

The large beasts tried to devour the duo but one look from him and all of them ran away. Unlike humans, beasts had strong survival instincts and understood that they were facing a real monster.

However, Naruto did end up turning off the light as it was extremely rude towards the creatures around him and constant disturbance.

Instead, Kakashi enclosed his eyes with chakra and created small light to see while Naruto decided to sleep after creating a house on the ocean bed.

After countless turns and twists, Naruto finally understood how to sleep and managed to rest under the ocean. There were multiple nightmare sessions, but there was no damage to the world.

In the morning, Naruto and Kakashi flew towards the Land of Waves where they hadn't set foot since the incident with Haku and Zabuza.

Paying respects to his old adversaries, Naruto decided to visit old friends with a gift from the Dark Ocean.

The duo didn't walk through the town since people would make some noise, and just arrived silently at their destination.

However, along the way Naruto saw terrible sights. The Land of Waves had been damaged heavily and even the small town hadn't remained safe. The infrastructural damage wasn't the only thing since people seemed to have died from illnesses.

"The healers had been recruited during the war. It is a consequence of such an action." Kakashi elaborated for Naruto since the young man didn't know the procedures taken during war.

"Did they take all of them?"

"Unfortunately, they seemed to have taken all of them. The survival of humanity was on the line, so such sacrifices were necessary."

Naruto didn't say a word as Kakashi already knew that he didn't agree with such thoughts. Arriving at his target, Naruto saw a young man of 14 practicing with a sword and shield.

Without a second look, Naruto recognized him as Inari because of his beanie. The weak little boy had become tall and muscular. Naruto could even feel hints of chakra from him at some points when he was attacking.

It was weak but there. It must have been weak because Inari hadn't learned how to make chakra and use it.

"Good morning Inari, how have you been?" Naruto greeted him casually, surprising Inari because of the sudden noise. He was at the back of the house and hadn't seen anyone enter from the backdoor.

However, he dropped the blade instantly and ran towards Naruto with a happy smile.

"Big brother, you finally came back. I thought you had forgotten about us." Inari hugged him and Naruto allowed it.

"Hey, I would never lie, you pipsqueak. I always keep my promise."

"Big brother, I am tall as you now." Inari smiled as he stood at the same height of 175 cm. Naruto was still growing and had yet to finish his growth. It was delayed because of his terrible diet at a young age.

"I can see that, and you also packed some muscles….You have done a wonderful job." Naruto pinched his body and saw the hardness before patting his head.

Inari was happy at the praise and ran inside the house to tell the others about their arrival.