Nagato's had been a gesture without the real intention of obtaining the result it might seem at first sight. The wounds of the body could never match those that the red had in the soul.

Naruto had guessed without further explanations, however the confirmation had come while he, Yahiko, Shisui and Obito were listening to the explanations of the psychologist who would follow him. In reality, they had all highlighted the need to admit him to a specialized clinic, but Naruto, as mayor, had interceded so that this did not happen, stating that he would take care of it personally, obviously supported by all the medical staff of which the red would have had need.

Nagato had never found a way to express his pain except by destroying himself in every possible way, tossing him from one doctor to another would have been useless if not even harmful. Naruto knew that everyone would have aimed to heal his body by making him reach a normal weight and then declaring him cured, but in that case the problems would have been far from solved, indeed, perhaps even worsened. Nagato would have sunk even deeper into depression finding himself deprived of the only means in his possession to be able to communicate the pain to the people around him. Naruto knew that any forcing could plunge him into an even worse vicious circle, no longer appearing ill in the eyes of others and no longer being able to clearly demonstrate that he was suffering for him would be the end. Naruto didn't have direct experience with such ailments, however since he became mayor, he had also often volunteered and had seen several cases of this kind. People declared cured upon reaching normal weight then very often fell into devastating bulimic crises having witnessed the failure of their anorexic dream. Naruto didn't feel guilty for explaining in this way the reasons why he wanted to take the case personally. His sentences had been crude, yes, but so was the reality of these people, sugaring the pill in these cases was absolutely useless.

Naruto knew that Nagato's pain had the misfortune of being one of those torments often taken lightly by people, most likely he was a man with little or no resilience. Whenever he was the victim of some setback in life, it took him more than double the time of a person considered normal to recover, so he almost always found himself having to face a second inconvenience without having fully recovered from the first and so on. Nagato had accumulated so many of these episodes, probably starting from when he was very young, that he had lost sight of the root cause of the suffering.

The origin of his pain had now lost its contours, getting lost in the infinity of time. Naruto then never liked using the word normal, it was too relative a concept when applied to people.

What does normal mean, who is it and according to what parameters? And who established them, on what basis? Each person is unique and simply has a brain that works in its own unique way.

No one had the intention of denying Nagato's suffering, it was just that he should have learned to express it and channel it in a different way, without withdrawing into himself but learning to project himself towards others and the future.

Having a relationship with Itachi had been a mistake even if it was done in good faith, Naruto had sensed the deep problems they both had. Itachi was inclined to hide as much as possible, swallow silently, while Nagato wanted to express and show. Itachi's attitude could become extremely dangerous for himself, he absolutely needed someone who would make him open up and make him understand that he is not wrong and that he has every right to be loved that other people have. Naruto had immediately understood that he was Kisame's special person, he had guessed it from how he touched and looked at him, after the fainting in Nagato's house he had only had time for him, despite the situation.

Both had to acquire the awareness of being exceptional.

Go Kisame, you are the perfect person, don't think you gave me pain, a new life was planned for me too. I'm sure that at the end of this journey we will all be a good group of friends, you know what? Which I can already say from now that it was worth it.

The day Nagato was discharged, after about a month, Naruto had asked everyone else if he could be alone to pick him up. Yahiko had put his foot down a bit on this proposal and it had been a bit complicated to make him understand the need to take things calmly especially for the first few days.

"As you surely know, Nagato, one of the mayor's first duties is to look after the health of his citizens."

Naruto flashed one of his conciliatory smiles making his turquoise eyes sparkle in front of Nagato's haggard face.

The red had remained hesitant on the glass door, as if going beyond it could mean entering a totally new world. Naruto was certain that his situation wasn't hopeless, he just needed to be addressed on the correct way to handle emotions.

"Of course I'm curious to know this guy you'll elbow every time he swerves, he'll surely be full of bruises and with both black eyes."
Naruto smiled thinking about Kisame's words the night at his house where they had… broken up? No, he couldn't get that word right, not in their case. They would never have left in the true sense of the word, their bond had changed shape but its intensity was always the same.

Finally Nagato had decided to take a few steps forward, immersing himself in the sun, then he stopped again, motionless, impassive, he seemed emptied of his soul. He was waiting for Naruto to take some initiative, perhaps in awe of being in front of the mayor, so the blond accentuated the good-natured expression on his face. He wondered how it was possible not to be proud of that rare wine color of hair and those beautiful purple reflections in his brown eyes.

"I have taken charge of your care, even if you will continue to be followed up on a daily basis by all the medical staff. Having a friend next to you is much better, isn't it?"

Nagato had tilted his head slightly to the right allowing the curtain of red hair to reveal that side of his face that was always hidden. Still waiting for him to say or do something, the redhead's expression looked a little skeptical however. But Naruto was sure it was just a defensive mechanism.

Maybe because I called myself a friend, but it's the truth. Being mayor has certainly not erased my humanity, quite the contrary.

Nagato had followed him across the parking lot in total silence, a situation that would have had the capacity to plunge anyone but Naruto into embarrassment. He knew who the people who fall victim to depression and eating disorders are, they are very intelligent and sensitive subjects who often hide the most precious of treasures within themselves for the simple reason of not knowing how to value it.

The blond was aware that he had been quite shrewd as a youth, a fun-loving peppermint, yet one had always glimpsed his innate gift for helping others even at the expense of himself if necessary. But now he too had become an adult and he wanted that something more that usually marks the end of the search and the longed-for goal in every person's life. Nagato had simply had the misfortune of possessing a mind that works differently from most individuals, Naruto felt attracted to this, aware that there would be so much to learn from red.

Nagato took his place in the passenger seat in a composed, calm way, without asking the thousands of questions that he was inevitably thinking, he seemed to disappear inside the gray sweater and the too baggy jeans. Anyone, in late May, would have died of the heat dressed like this, but his extreme thinness made him suffer from the cold eternally. Naruto wasn't at all surprised by his attitude of a model student, it was a typical trait of people like him.

Nagato remained silent until he saw Naruto take the road to go to his house: "Forgive me but maybe you're taking the wrong road, I live on the opposite side."

Despite his drained body, his voice sounded deep and incisive. Naruto sensed that his calmness was only apparent and that inside he was overwhelmed by doubts and anguish.

"I'm taking you to my house, yours is currently left with the door half broken and it has a window missing, it wouldn't be very safe."

"I don't need you to groom it, I would like to go back to my apartment."

Here the anxiety and terror of healing began to make themselves felt, from now on Nagato would have done everything to prove himself healthy in the eyes of anyone, especially his. Naruto had made excuses for not having to tell him that he intended to follow him closely during his healing journey, if he had confessed it, Nagato would have fled at the earliest opportunity.

It was probably this that had opened ever deeper cracks in the relationship with Itachi: the evident willingness of the dark haired to help him. However, it was a mistake made in good faith that the family members of people with Nagato's problems almost always made.

"You had a lot of bad experiences in that house, you should find an alternative solution. I am willing to host you until then, after which you will be free to go wherever you want."

Naruto purposely assumed the best positions of his face so that the sunlight illuminated his eyes and smile. From now on he should have all the tact he never had, he should mostly avoid talking about the insane gesture. Nagato shouldn't have had the perception that it had had an effect on the people around him, that's why the choice to keep him, at least initially, away from Yahiko.

"Does Itachi still live there? You're right, I don't want to see that slut."

Here is the pain that began to make its way. Nagato was the complete opposite of Itachi, his indifference and willingness to hide were just a mask destined to fall soon. Probably he had spent the years of the relationship with Itachi envying the character and self-control of the dark-haired, they would have been indispensable for the implementation of his anorexic goal of him. Nagato had never owned them himself, he only pretended to have them. He had probably been prey to inferiority complexes all his life, convincing himself that he was always worth less than who he was facing for this or that other reason.

Naruto had decided to keep silent in front of that word addressed to Itachi, it was part of those provocations that shouldn't take hold if Nagato was to completely get out of his problems. That accusation made against his ex could come from any reason, after all, being Nagato an excessively sensitive person, it didn't take much to hurt him by bringing out the worst grudge. This was most likely something most people wouldn't even notice.

Faced with Naruto's silence, not at all hostile but rather welcoming, the redhead had felt authorized to continue his explanation letting go of a liberating sigh: "I learned that Itachi has been working, probably for about six years, as a stripper or something similar when he told me and his brother that he was a security guard."

Naruto had felt his heart stop, however he had managed to scrape together the necessary strength to reduce all of his reaction to the mere act of swallowing hard, he certainly couldn't ruin everything now that he had taken the right path to save Nagato.

It was not the result of the hypersensitivity of red, therefore, a fund of truth existed. He had arrived to shatter that window with the intention of cutting his veins for arousing such very serious feelings of guilt in Itachi, and that is the cause of his pain. His primary purpose had been that while another person would have limited himself to breaking off the relationship.

Nagato was one of those who tended to throw their lives completely into the hands of a single person ending up completely dependent on them, the fortress that he had built on Itachi's image suddenly collapsed, dragging him down with him.

Naruto couldn't help but think back to all the times he had gone to Susanoo with Kiba, Obito, and finally also for his and Kisame's graduation party. As far as he knew, there were no such venues in the city unless Itachi did private shows. That was exactly the period Nagato had mentioned, he remembered the faces of each dancer and Itachi was among them.

"Nagato, to say something like that you have to be sure. How can you say with such absolute certainty that Itachi does such a job?"

"Itachi had always told me to keep his gun in a bag that he always carried with him to work, but he begged me to resist the temptation to peek since the weapon was defective" Nagato had assumed the patient tone normally used to explain the lesson to a child "one morning he came back with his fingernails painted purple, a bit strange for a security guard, right? So I told myself that there couldn't be anything dangerous inside that bag. In fact it turned out a hideous rodent mask, a pair of stiletto heels, leather straps and stuff like that. As you can see he is nothing but a prostitute. Before he was an acrobat, you think."

Naruto couldn't help but grip both his teeth and his hands on the steering wheel this time. He pretended to concentrate on the road, it wouldn't have been the case now to show Nagato his eyes widening.

Itachi, then you are the weasel. The one I've wanted for so many years, Kisame's special person. You literally made me lose my mind in the private room, how can I forget it? It could be seen from a distance that you were much more than just a dancer, but what the hell happened to you? At the time I was only thinking about having fun and such an eventuality hadn't even crossed my mind, I just treated you like a trophy. Kisame had already sensed something that evening, I know, I noticed it. Itachi, don't let him get away, you deserve all the love in the world.

Naruto forced himself to keep calm as he caught his breath slowly: "I don't think this is Itachi's dream job for life. You said yourself that before he was an acrobat, something probably happened that forced him to make choices. See Nagato, unfortunately people can't always get the job they love the most."

Nagato sighed heavily lowering his eyes, Naruto could see a softening of his expression even just looking at him for a fraction of a second: "It's exactly as you say, he was a very good trapeze artist and for this he was also becoming quite famous. During his performances he seemed to fly, his body seemed to literally lose consistency, I don't remember ever seeing anything like it in my life. He had to give up that career due to a bad fracture in his right shoulder, he was the victim of a terrible fall during his last performance."

This was enough for Naruto to clearly understand Nagato's tormented soul, from those few words his eternal inferiority complex emerged that he had not only towards Itachi, but probably with anyone he had approached in the course of his life . Naruto knew that even he himself at that moment represented a favorable candidate to make Nagato fall into the same trap again, this was perhaps the aspect he should have paid more attention to.

In the relationship between Itachi and Negato there had been love on both sides, there was no doubt, however for Nagato this would have been difficult to recognize for some time to come. Perhaps it would have been one of the last conquests on the path to finally being happy with him. His desire to externalize the pain also came out, making it visible for fear that he would not assume the right value in the eyes of others.

To make Nagato understand the futility of his wanting to destroy himself it was necessary to make him stop withdrawing solely on himself, in cases like these the real panacea was to make him share in the situations of others by involving him in various activities to help them, this would have made him feel useful finally putting its immense value before his eyes.

Naruto had also guessed Nagato's will to avoid the real reason that had led Itachi to break his shoulder, his willingness to overlook that event was evident. It was probably another source of envy that the redhead had towards his ex, evidently a much harder rock than the others.

It almost seems like you felt jealous of Itachi more for the reason that led to him breaking his shoulder than for his undoubted acrobat skills. I'm sure it is.

Naruto decided to focus on Itachi's pain in order to start pulling Nagato out of his own.

"Whatever opinion you have about Itachi, I really don't think that was his ultimate goal, don't you think he would have gladly continued his career instead of ending up as a stripper? He would have avoided even all of his health problems if he had the choice. You see Nagato, so many times what people mistakenly think of as important things aren't important at all, it's nothing but collateral damage in someone's life that he tries to handle as best he can. What I want you to understand is that the things that wear you down so much only matter because you attributed it to them. If you hadn't done so they would have slipped away totally unnoticed and forgotten by all."

The silence in which Nagato closed himself until he got home made Naruto realize that he had hit the first target.

The blond was proud that becoming mayor had not affected his personality and his way of doing things, he was born messy and remained so. Nonetheless, Nagato had remained impassive upon entering his apartment. Surely he had noticed the gigantic smiley face on the fridge, the clothes both to be washed and those already clean, piled up near the washing machine. Some forgotten dishes both on the table and inside the sink. A pile of magazines, certainly old and to be thrown away, piled up on the kitchen counter and was almost certainly finding the pastel green color of the plaster horrid. All things that certainly did not suit a mayor. Naruto caught all of this on the redhead's haggard and pale face as if he were reading a page of a book made clear by the August sunlight. The blond was about to hit the second and very important target.

"Do you want something to drink?" he asked the redhead heading towards the curious refrigerator.

"No thank you."

That was only the first of countless refusals Naruto would hear about anything to ingest, so he paid no attention to it and wasn't even surprised.

"Come on, sit down" Naruto had passed in front of him with a cold beer in hand heading towards the two white armchairs arranged so that the two occupants could look into each other's eyes. He sat down crossing his legs totally relaxed.

"It's torture to be dressed like this in this heat, but unfortunately my position requires it" he had slipped off the light blue shirt without any qualms, remaining bare-chested. He made himself comfortable by turning on the television without waiting for the reaction of the other who had remained standing shortly after the door.

Nagato had approached slowly and in total silence settling on the second chair. As soon as the redhead took position, Naruto muted the volume.

"My house is a bit special, isn't it?"

"Not very much."

Naruto smiled sensing how the other was trying to hide the real impressions of him.

"Well, that's not what most people would expect from a mayor." Naruto wanted to prove to Nagato that there is absolutely nothing wrong with expressing one's thoughts.

"He's very youthful, a bit… like a student" Nagato had looked around for a moment while the blond wondered what his field of vision should be like with his right eye totally buried by his hair.

"And do you think this conditions my person making me less credible or in some way different from who I am? A bit like if you change your hair cut or color not being the same anymore?"

"Obviously not. Each of us has many small facets that can have infinite combinations with each other and coexist very well together without disturbing each other."

Naruto nodded in sincere and deep approval upon hearing this, exactly as he had expected. Nagato was an extremely intelligent and gifted person who ended up burying himself in suffering.

"Quite right and happy to hear you say that. You see, each of us has particularities that make us unique and recognizable in the eyes of others. It is precisely thanks to this that we are easily remembered by people, some like us, others don't, however it is inevitable. I'm terribly messy, many don't like it but it's part of me and it certainly doesn't make me any less capable of being a good mayor or a good friend. Each mold with which each of us is created is used only once and then thrown away. Yours, Nagato, wasn't faulty, it was just more peculiar than others but no less interesting and fascinating. However these peculiarities are not wrong, on the contrary, I consider them gifts. You absolutely must not change them, when the person capable of appreciating them arrives he will no longer be able to do without them. Each of us is unique but normal at the same time. Being unique is part of normality."

Nagato hadn't responded to this speech, Naruto knew it would take him some time to accept it, maybe even a lot. He still hadn't fallen on deaf ears though he would need constant pointing out in the near future that awaited them. It was important now to treat Nagato as he had just defined him: an absolutely normal person.

Nagato pursed his lips parched from malnutrition as he asked Naruto for a beer. He really felt the need to enjoy a nice toast with a friend now.