-Shizune-
Genin weren't meant to face trauma this early on.
Shizune thought back to Hanako's mix between a smile and a grimace as he stood and stared at the two men he killed. The look of fury- of hatred- on his face as he ripped his arm from Naruto's hold like he was a hot stove. The scream of anguish- of helpless suffering- as he thrashed in maniac pain.
Sasuke'd also somehow managed to evolve his eyes into a full three tomoe Sharingan in a single day. Naruto's clothes were practically in pieces from the stupid explosion he pulled off which Shizune will forever chew him off for.
And Sakura as well. Civilian as she is, she technically should be the least adjusted to gruesome missions as what'd reportedly happened, yet she didn't seem that badly affected. And if she was affected, how good at repressing must she be?
Tsunade had commented plenty on this particular civilian girl; she claimed that she had piqued her interest for a while with her interesting state of mind- something that could be honed into something dangerous, yet the fangirl tendencies she fell prey to had killed off the Sannin's intrigue.
Sakura had certainly changed.
Her limbs were still noodles, and her pasty complexion pointed to her restricted diet, but Sakura didn't have the air of a fangirl anymore, which meant that she was probably left to deal with the load of issues she'd created on that persona: couldn't eat, couldn't exercise, couldn't train, felt uncomfortable with her drastic change.
While Naruto's quick change pointed to a lot of things, including his natural ability to adapt, Sakura had none of that and she'd treated her body so badly beforehand that now it would take a long while to get back to 'healthy'.
'You don't feed a starving man a banquet.' Shizune thought, flicking her gaze away. Waving idly, she called out, "Kakashi-san, any injuries?"
"Nope." Kakashi scanned his eye over his two students and a transformed Naruto. "Sasuke's gotten a bit of an impromptu acupuncture, but nothing serious. We'll rest for a day before leaving. After burying their bodies." He added on, gaze lingering on his Uchiha student.
"Well... I've got a bit of a problem here as well." Shizune started slowly, catching Naruto's eye until he understood what she meant. Steadily paling, he gave an aborted nod, walking forward to wrap his arms around her before he jogged towards Tsunade's presence.
"Okay, the Demon Brothers had came back." She continued bluntly, observing Sakura and Sasuke's confused expressions and Kakashi's blanching one. "Hanako-kun's alive." She quickly added. "But I've placed him in a short medically induced coma. He won't be able to continue being a shinobi."
Sakura's eyes blew wide as she gaped in surprise. Sasuke's own expression tightened in suspicion and shock.
"...What happened?" Kakashi said lowly.
"He was in a state of shock after he killed some thugs trying to kidnap the bridge builder's daughter." Shizune inclined her head to the left where Tsunami was. "The two Demon Brothers took him by surprise and ripped his leg straight off. Namito and I arrived at the scene soon after and stabilised his injury."
"Oh." Kakashi replied faintly. "Well then. Sasuke, Sakura, go back to the provided rooms."
"What?" Sakura demanded. "B-But-"
"Now." He stressed.
Watching them leave reluctantly, Kakashi raised a brow. "Shizune-san, there's more to the story than just that, isn't it?"
"Of course there is." She scoffed derisively, leading him towards the room where Hanako laid. "He... Just how bad is he in terms of Naruto?"
"Very bad." Kakashi sighed softly. "I knew it. You didn't arrive late, did you?"
"No, in all honesty, if I'd acted," Shizune stared into his lone eye blankly. "Yamashiro would not have gotten injured at all."
"But you didn't. Naruto did." He guessed. "And Hanako..."
"-Would have had his spine ripped into chunks if not for him." Shizune finished in a bitter tone. "Naruto managed to pull him away, but Yamashiro's refusal for help, or whatever deluded beliefs he held, caused that leg to be torn off. He did this to himself."
"I ought to have taught him better..." Kakashi looked down at the unconscious boy.
"You should've." Shizune agreed coolly. "That is, if you'd taught these Genin at all. Let me be frank: don't even think about approaching Naruto. I'm pretty sure everyone here apart from Haruno knows who 'Namito' is, and Naruto's probably aware of that. Just continue playing the act, Kakashi-san, until Yamashiro wakes up in Konoha. There's no reason to keep him in a coma other than to protect Naruto after all."
"I... I know. ...Why are you telling me this?" He asked tiredly.
"In case you haven't learnt your lesson, Kakashi-san." She articulated pointedly. "You better start acting like a proper goddamned teacher. I swear to god if Naruto ends up under your care for the Chuunin exams and you're still this lax, I will break the bones in your legs ten times over until you can't shit yourself without aid. Bring Haruno or Uchiha into the exams untrained as well, I fucking dare you."
Kakashi blinked in surprise, taken aback by the casual vehemence of her words. "...No need to be so scary, Shizune-san." He replied airily. "I've learnt my lesson."
"Well for the sake of us both," She offered a disarmingly friendly smile as she returned to the door, peering over her shoulder one last time to stare at Kakashi. "I sure hope that's the truth."
The door shut with an inappropriately soft... click.
Kakashi gave a low groan, a hand moving to brace his head as he stared down at Hanako, apologising a thousand times over.
-Naruto-
"Wow Baachan." He deadpanned. "You look like Namito's mom. Obasan now?"
"Pfft, whatever." Tsunade waved off, activating the privacy seal she'd prepared. "Anyway, sorry for not being at the bridge. I'd seen... Orochimaru."
"Your teammate? Orochimaru?" Naruto repeated, straightening. "Wh... Why?! Isn't he some big time bad guy?"
"Please." She rolled her eyes. "He only came because he was curious. Also..." Tsunade trailed off as if debating something. "Also, he gave me a warning, telling me to train you better."
Naruto raised his eyebrows.
"Don't get cocky because you defeated that ice user, brat." Tsunade flicked his nose. "You still have a long way to go although you technically should be competent enough to ease through the exams..."
"Baachan, I don't think you could do worse training than-" He shuddered, remembering the continuous stream of chakra output and intense workouts. "-That."
"Hehe, was that a challenge?" Tsunade narrowed her eyes with a sharp grin.
"N-No..."
She waved off the threatening expression with an amused smile. "Well, I do need to start teaching you Iryo. The Kage Bunshin that we both spawned out are slowly running out of chakra- they'll naturally dispel in a few days. Also, when you learn Iryo, you can't use clones."
"Huh." He nodded. "...Wait what? Why not?"
"You already know." She rolled her eyes. "Iryo already includes completely filtering out the Kyuubi's chakra from your own- that's all extremely delicate work and the slightest imbalance in your concentration or chakra could cause an explosion- in which I mean a death."
Naruto pursed his lips annoyedly. "What about Katsuyu-san?"
"We'll be going into Shikkotsu Forest for the Iryo program because usually you need quite a lot of set up. You'll sign the contract then, I suppose. Then there's the issue of the Byakugo... heavens, we have so much to cover. We'll skim over all of them, but what do you want to prioritise?"
He blinked, pointing to himself. "Me? I dunno..."
Naruto squinted in thought. It's been so long since he'd been with Tsunade and Shizune, but he was still maladjusted to their nonchalance with him being able to decide things.
Iryo Ninjutsu didn't suit his fighting style at all; while he liked the idea of healing someone, his mindset had always been: beat the enemy up before they beat him or his people up. Not to mention, Shizune had told him that he loses his cool when this are at stake and his impulsivity had only been lessened, not completely removed.
If he was on a three man cell and one person was injured, he wasn't very suited for healing while trusting the other person to defend.
'Your trust issues pop up at the strangest times.' His inner-Shizune mused.
It wasn't not trusting the person... maybe. Naruto had learnt from experience to keep full awareness after all- it was essential for a prankster and hardly anyone could sneak up to him.
Katsuyu was also not primarily offense although he did like the idea of having a little communication slug. Also, Tsunade had told him that in the future when he perhaps uses the Kyuubi's chakra, the acidity of Katsuyu's offensive chakra and the Kyuubi's corrosive chakra would be good partners. But that would have to be in the future as he had yet to meet the Kyuubi.
(Of course, there were several times where he could have. Entering a meditative trance was second nature by now, and there'd always been a little opening in his spaceless cloud of mindfulness. It felt like a black void, something he felt pulled towards yet terrified of at the same time.)
The Byakugo sounded the best: Tsunade told him that while he'd hardly have use for the Mitotic Regeneration, it was still a Yin seal that could exponentially boost his techniques- defensive, offensive, and the ones with medical properties.
The Byakugo also had a link to Katsuyu and the processing results in the slug being able to heal others using Naruto's chakra without him actively using a medical technique. It had sounded so complicated at first, but Tsunade just drew up a diagram and told him that the link between the Byakugo and Katsuyu was 'irrelevant blah'.
"Erm... Byakugo first priority." Naruto confirmed. It was Uzumaki as well, so win-win. His Fuuinjutsu right now was still mediocre at best in terms of his Clan, so his main offense was Taijutsu and Ninjutsu- both which would be boosted by that seal. "Iryo Ninjutsu second priority and Katsuyu-san last because I don't think it's that hard to work with her at the moment."
"Okay." She agreed easily before she hesitantly asked: "What about Sage Mode?"
Naruto stilled, never having considered it- at least not now. "...Isn't it time-consuming?"
Tsunade offered a tight-lipped smile, "At first that's what I thought as well, but we'd have lots of advantages. First, Katsuyu is the most passive out of the three Sannin summons and will be willing to help. Second, we both large pools of chakra, so it's harder for us to screw up. Third, Kage Bunshin. Fourth, I've got the best chakra control in the Five Nations regardless of chakra capacity, hands down."
"That's not gotta do with me though?"
She smiled, all teeth. "You're my protégé."
Tsunade began to seriously contemplate the decision as she frowned lightly. "And everything I taught you so far was what I'd planned on doing over the course of one entire year, Naruto. It took Jiraiya years and he still hadn't mastered it, but you and I-" She smirked. "-We're different. We could do it in a month. It's just the gamble."
"Baachan, you suck at gambles." He deadpanned. "But I'm ridiculously lucky, so maybe it'll cancel out."
"Seriously though," Tsunade continued after a snicker. "You could learn so much in a month and if you sacrifice it for an incomplete Sage Mode..."
"Tsunade-baachan," Naruto asked slowly. "You kept saying 'we'; are you going to do it as well? Haven't you tried before?"
"I've never tried, but I'd asked Katsuyu about the buffs." The Sannin hummed in thought. "They were all things I had already: enhanced speed, agility, and strength, and faster regeneration. I was... a shipwreck back then. You know. I just waved off the other advantages it'd give me. When you sign the contract, Katsuyu can tell you more. ...And my reason for bringing this up is because now that I contemplated it..."
Her brown eyes sharpened: "Sage Mode might give me alone access to Mokuton."
"We're doing it." Naruto instantly said. Tsunade had always had a complicated relationship towards the Shodaime, but this was... this was a step forward that Naruto could actually help with.
"Skipping all those steps again, Naruto?" She snarked. "Straight from Chuunin-level to god?"
"Not god..." He dragged out. "But maybe a semi-god."
"It's 'demigod'." She corrected with a small smile. "Well then. We're going all out?"
"You bet it." Naruto grinned.
("...Or actually don't bet, because then you'd lose.")
-Next dawn-
His eyes cracked open as he naturally woke up before the sun rose. After half a minute of lazing, he noticed that Sasuke was absent. Throwing off his covers, he cracked his jaw open in a yawn before he quickly got ready, heading towards the bridge with a lack of things to do and a restlessness from yesterday's fight.
As Naruto greeted another bridge builder- they got up so early!- he caught sight of Sasuke, changed out of his bloodied clothes, sitting on the railing of the bridge, staring into the expanse of the sea. Ah, there he was.
Naruto hesitated before he moved to greet him; he had no idea how to treat Sasuke now.
The parallel childhoods and the pride that held him back from befriending him. The hot-headed rivalry. Then that unexpected care, the "Why are you crying?" that he sometimes thinks about on nights he couldn't sleep.
Naruto had forgone deeper thoughts and had dived headfirst into relentless training, but sometimes at night, his twisted relationship with Konoha never escaped him. The mish-mash of conflicting emotions surrounding Sasuke never escaped him.
He'd felt that they could no longer be rivals after that, yet he'd felt closer to Sasuke than before. Naruto felt like he was cheating- being in Namito's face as he grieved Haku's loss, sat by Sasuke who looked so bitter, so cynical.
Naruto stood in the centre of the stone bridge, ignoring the other men who gave him strange looks. It felt like he was betraying someone (himself?) if he took a step back, yet something (fear or pride?) kept him from taking a step forward.
Then he remembered the deep eyebags and the raw hatred in those black eyes as Sasuke's spars had gotten increasingly aggressive, feral, almost. He remembered the unhinged laughter, like Sasuke's sanity had been pulled to a thread. It was surprising how taken aback he'd been at the notion that Sasuke could feel. Had a heart. Could mourn.
(Because Naruto had watched, and after that night seven years ago, he'd never cried.)
But the air around Sasuke's hunched shoulders as he stared out at the water was undoubtedly sorrowful.
Naruto took a step forward.
-Sasuke-
He would never admit to being caught off guard. He would say that it was because he couldn't sleep through the night, or that he was injured from the fight.
When Sasuke suddenly sensed a presence behind him, he jumped to his feet, but the railing bar was slippery and his bracing hand missed the bar. He nearly toppled straight off the bridge if it weren't for Naruto- still transformed- hurriedly grabbing at his shirt.
He almost scoffed in disbelief; their roles of 'clumsy and composed' had completely swapped.
Or perhaps not as Naruto did not pull Sasuke forward and onto the bridge, but rather- "GERONIMOOO-" -pushed the both of them over the edge.
What.
There was a single, stifling moment as his heart skipped a beat before they began to plummet down onto the water. Sasuke scrambled, but in the strange tackle position they were in, he couldn't reach for his wire or anything helpful. Not to mention, he was still shocked from what the hell Naruto was pulling.
"What the fuck? " He shouted, involuntarily clinging onto Naruto to avoid the worst of the impact.
Was he a disguised enemy trying to drag him into the water like Zabuza? He then shook that thought away; Zabuza hadn't been an enemy and Naruto could have stabbed him already-
Then he registered Naruto laughing and he felt so many layers of exasperated annoyance that he completely resigned to his fate of having to swim back to Wave.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes to avoid the spray as they collided with the water surface with a BANG.
After half a second, he realised that, no, he was not drenched- only half-drenched. This was Zabuza's trick-
"Jeez, that Jonin dude didn't teach you water walking?" Naruto huffed loudly. "He totally sucks!"
"...I know." Sasuke drawled dryly. He would say 'put me down' because Naruto was still half-carrying him, but he also didn't want to get drenched. "This is... awkward." He said instead, beginning to channel chakra to the soles of his feet.
"It's the same thing as tree walking, but not." Naruto grinned before letting him go. At the sudden release, he flailed a bit (though he'd never admit to it because Uchiha didn't flail ) and instinctively gripped his shoulder for balance as he slowly got adjusted to the water-
"Oop-" Naruto hauled him up before he fell. On the second try, he managed it easily enough; it wasn't that different from tree walking.
"Yay! You did it so quickly." He cheered. "Now let's water walk and feel like gods."
"I'm sure gods can do more than walk on water." He replied flatly as he let himself get dragged around by Naruto.
"Hey, hey." Naruto peered back at him. "Why didn't you stab me on the way down? I coulda been an enemy for all you know."
"Since when did you start asking intelligent questions?" He shot back, inwardly slightly giddy at the prospect of being able to do it so quickly.
"Oh shut up." He snapped before he perked up. "Well now that you can water walk, ya wanna play a game that Ba- ah, Obasan always played to improve my control?"
"That grin looks evil." Sasuke observed with a smirk. "Bring it on."
Naruto near cackled as he broke away from him, running a few paces before he made a pushing motion with his hand. For a few milliseconds, Sasuke thought he was going insane before the water followed the motion, rolling slowly towards him. He knew Suiton?
Because of how nonthreatening the mini-wave was, he let it roll under his feet, raising an unimpressed brow at Naruto even as he had to actively make sure he was still channelling chakra.
"Just getting started, Duck Ass!" Naruto harrumphed as he swiped up aggressively, causing large droplets to rise with it. He snapped his arm downwards and they shot towards his vague direction. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, noticing how much easier chakra control was after that and neatly manoeuvring around the projectiles.
"What did you just call me?" He asked. He noticed the large build up of chakra Naruto had spread throughout the water he was standing on; it was probably how he was controlling the water- that was an unnecessarily large output of chakra. ...Then again, Naruto was probably just playing around.
"Duck Ass." Naruto repeated in an articulate tone. Sasuke sighed.
"What's your affinity anyway?" Naruto asked, doing an absentminded cartwheel on the water. The sight confused Sasuke more than it ought to. "It ain't fire which is pretty rare in the Uchiha Clan. They're written down in history books as fire-spitting demon warriors."
Sasuke stilled, not knowing what to think of the casual address towards his Clan. And at the fact that Naruto read history books.
"I... have fire affinity." He said, sounding more like a question than statement.
Naruto frowned. "No you don't. You have big chakra for a Genin, so you probably haven't done the chakra paper test. You took unreasonably long to create a fireball and you're talented, so I don't think it's a rookie mistake."
Sasuke clamped down his reflexive knee-jerk reaction, realising that his father and his br- Itachi could do it in an instant. "So you're saying fire isn't my affinity?"
Fire was part of the Uchiha tradition, and to not specialise in it... It was both... refreshing, somehow, and draining at the same time. It was like he wasn't a 'true' Uchiha and he had many mixed feelings about that.
"Neh," He shrugged, "I dunno. When I meant unreasonably long, I meant like half a second too long. That half a second is usually when you switch gears or sumthin'. Try water. B- Obasan taught me a basic one that everyone knows. Even without the Sharingan, you could do it."
Naruto proceeded to make four simple hand seals, causing a blob of water to rise. Deciding to indulge, Sasuke obligingly did the same hand seals, feeling his chakra twist strangely before a blob of water rose in front of him. That was... simpler than he expected.
"It wasn't water." Sasuke raised a brow.
"Try wind." Naruto made another five hand seals before he clapped and raised his palm. A small gust of wind blew out and the blonde turned to him expectantly.
With a light exhale, Sasuke did the same, feeling a surprisingly small amount of chakra drainage. Were these, like, E-Rank Jutsu? "Not that either."
"Urgh..." He pouted, "There isn't dirt here, but come on, Doton is so boring; a cool bastard like you wouldn't have Doton- no offense to Iwa friends. I can't do Raiton anything either."
"You know four elements?" Sasuke looked at him disbelievingly.
"Three." Naruto corrected as if it were anything less impressive. "I can't do Katon, and I'm only decent at Fuuton. The others are generally too energy-costing." Since when did he care for energy-costing? This was the boy who went out of his way to write the most deprecating insults on the Hokage's faces.
"Well." Sasuke hesitated. "I'd seen Kakashi's Raiton Jutsu for a split moment, but I remembered how the chakra flowed..."
"Whaaa?" Naruto scurried up to him with an excited bounce, eyes sparkling as he stared expectantly at Sasuke. "Try it, try it!"
"It was a high level one." He pushed Naruto back with a minimal fingertip to his forehead, leaning away. "Not to mention it might be dangerous."
The boy pursed his lips, ducking his head and looking disappointed. Rolling his eyes exasperatedly, Sasuke tried for it, bringing the pads of his two index fingers a few centimetres apart and channelling chakra towards them.
Naruto curiously looked down at his hands.
Sasuke slowly began to drag his chakra to form a link between the two fingers, furrowing his brow as he tried to mimic the density and output that Kakashi's technique had-
Bzzt.
A crackle of electricity zapped in between his fingers, causing him to lose his footing on the water from shock (pun not intended). Naruto grabbed at his arm before he yelped when a light buzz sounded at the contact.
"Oh." Sasuke stared at his hands, feeling tingly but not harmed. "Raiton then."
"You get a cool one..." Naruto bemoaned, "No fair... how did you do it so easily? I had to meditate so much to make the air not explode around me."
He felt a smirk splitting over his face as he reached for the sensation again, this time deactivating his Sharingan as he felt a drop in his reserves. It crackled over his palm, barely visible unlike Kakashi's full out lighting. It felt... far easier than Katon.
"You've got to be some real hard worker to be able to spit out fireballs." Naruto grunted, voicing Sasuke's thought, lips still pursed in exaggerated annoyance. "The fireball seems so chakra taxing as well and it wasn't even your main affinity! Anyway, your Jonin dude obviously has a Raiton affinity so go badger him for Jutsu. Obasan told me she would only ever teach me one for electric signals or whatever, so I won't get to learn the super cool lighting bolts-tteb-ahh-ne."
Sasuke turned his head a bit to stifle a snicker; Naruto slipped up again.
Clearing his throat, the blonde continued. "Don't think you're cool for having a cool affinity though." He harrumphed. "Fuuton is actually strong against Raiton!"
"Weak against Katon." Sasuke countered smoothly.
"Which is weak against water." He finished with a triumphant grin. Sasuke rolled his eyes and swept a leg under Naruto. With a startled yelp, he twisted into a backwards handspring with surprising flexibility.
"What a bastard!" Naruto cried.
-Meanwhile: Kakashi-
"What?" Kakashi despaired. He'd known that Sasuke and Naruto both went to the bridge, but... "What do you mean you saw a blonde child tackle a black haired child off the bridge?"
The man shrugged. "Just thought I'd let ya know. Hope they aren't dead, heh."
"'Heh' ?" The Hatake groaned.
"Sounds like he's having fun." Tsunade commented languidly.
"It'll be fine." Shizune told him. "I've packed lots of clothes."
"What?" Kakashi sputtered. "They- Sasuke can't water walk!"
"Water walk?" Sakura frowned. "Is that what Zabuza had done?"
"You haven't taught them how to water walk? " The Sannin shot an accusatory look towards him and Kakashi blanched.
Turning back to Sakura, Tsunade told her: "Go jump off the bridge."
"Um. That sounded bad." Shizune grimaced.
"Like a test of courage!" The Sannin defended herself. "Namito and your teammate should be able to sense you. They'll teach you how to do it."
"Really?" Sakura perked up with a beam. "Thank you thank you! I'll be back before lunch!"
Kakashi watched her sprint out the door with a blank face. "Lunch is more than five hours away."
-Shizune-
If Kakashi thought that those three gremlins would actually be back by lunch, he was deluding himself. Nodding approvingly down at the three bentos she prepared, she quickly headed to the bridge.
Upon locating the trio- not too hard considering how Sasuke blew out a fireball in that moment- she looked down at them, meeting Naruto's eye. The blonde cocked his head to the side in confusion before he made an 'o' of realisation, reaching his arms out.
She dropped the three packed bentos down, releasing a breath of relief when they were all caught.
"Thanks Shizu-nee!" He hollered, passing two to the others. Shizune tossed him a thumbs up.
Later that afternoon, three soaking wet children barged into their stay with blinding beams on their faces (or a slightly larger smirk on Sasuke's face). Naruto had his hands threaded through both Sakura and Sasuke's and they'd never looked more happy in their life before.
Kakashi felt his heart get torn into shreds from both guilt and nostalgia and- this could have been-
"Oi Jonin dude!" Naruto stormed right to him, dragging the other two bemused children with him. He raised and pointed at Kakashi with his (and Sasuke's) hand. "Duck Ass has Raiton affinity. You should totally teach him kick ass techniques, datteba-ne!"
He felt himself get a heart attack at that verbal tic, no matter how it broke half way when he said it.
"Sakura has water affinity but it's not as strong and she has pretty crappy chakra reserves, but you should tots teach her something too!"
Kakashi slowly looked away only to be faced with Tsunade and Shizune's expectant looks.
"Ah..." He turned back to the trio. "Haha... Yeah..."
-A few hours later-
"Don't tell me you're seriously leaving one of the Seven Swordsmen's famous blade unprotected in this place?" Shizune hissed at Kakashi.
He frowned. "We can't take it back, or go to Kiri."
"Uh." Naruto cleared his throat. "You totally could. Just seal it and keep it under the Hokage's watch. Kiri's info system is kinda wack with whatever's going on there, ya know?"
"Namito-kun's right, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura frowned. "Anyone could just grab it and wreck havoc with it."
"You take it then." Kakashi looked at Tsunade.
Sasuke shot him a disgusted expression.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Kakashi-sensei... you kinda... sound like a child." Sakura raised a brow.
"It's fine." Tsunade waved off. "I have contacts that can bring it to Kiri safely." Namely, Shizune, because she wouldn't have anything to do while the two of them trained in Slug Sage Mode.
"Okay..." The girl nodded hesitantly. "But, Kakashi-sensei, what do you think about what they said? Haku and Zabuza, I mean."
"A shinobi is not meant to pursue their own goals, or hold their individual dreams." Kakashi replied, like reading off a manual. "It is most important to become the most useful tool for the Village. Konoha is no exception."
"Eck." Naruto frowned. "I don't like that.
Sasuke cast the man a sideways glance. "You believe that as well?"
"Well, every ninja has to live while dealing with that issue. ...Just like Zabuza and Haku."
"What..." Naruto looked- really looked- at Kakashi. "What do you fight for?"
The Jonin gave him a smile, eye crinkling upwards, "Maa, I'd imagine it's the same as yours now."
"You knew Haku as well, didn't you?" Sasuke faced Naruto. "Did he talk of... precious people?"
The blonde's eyes widened a margin. "Yeah." He confirmed in a soft tone. "We share beliefs, somewhat. I fight to protect my precious people, but right now, I just want to figure out who my 'precious people' are. In the end, I would never agree to the belief of being a tool. I'm going to be a ninja in my own way."
Kakashi inwardly sighed; Naruto slipped up again. They weren't meant to know that he was a ninja and he technically wasn't... Sakura hadn't caught on that though.
Moments later, with Hanako adjusted on his back, they parted ways; Team 7 back to Konoha, Tsunade and Naruto to the North-West, and Shizune to Kiri.
-Three weeks later-
"Tazuna, what do you think to call it?"
"Hmm..." Tazuna thought back to the Konoha team who decided to help him despite his deception.
Sasuke who, for all he seemed emotionless, carried a strong, compassionate heart- like light breaking through his shadows. Sakura who threw herself into a dangerous ninja to protect her Team, to protect him- courageous as she stands proud.
And then the blonde haired boy who appeared with the grin of a jester, and brought smiles to what seemed like hell, and snapped his fingers to create an explosion, and turned the tides with a few words.
The blonde boy who landed before them with a brightness that illuminated the murky bridge.
Brilliant, kind, courageous, proud, and shining- all of them- like the sun.
"This bridge will lead us to success, but more importantly, to warmth, to fuller stomachs, to happiness. How about..." Tazuna peered up, a hand reached out to the sun blazing down on them.
"...The Bridge to the Sun?"