The Sun and the Moon (BL)

Chapter 4

A week has passed, and it was already time for the Kage Summit. This month, it was being hosted in the Leaf village. The work piled on more than usual, there were the general preparations that needed to be taken care of on top of all the other paperwork that had to go towards the meeting. Suffice to say, everyone in the building has been busy for the past couple of days.

Worst of all, Kakashi chose to disappear somewhere before the meeting was supposed to begin. That left Shikamaru with no other choice but to take his place, once again. He thought that it may be different this time, as Kakashi didn't have to travel to any of the other hidden villages, but apparently that wasn't the issue.

Luckily, Shikamaru and Naruto worked together in compiling all the relevant documents so either of them could take Kakashi's place whenever the need arose, and that it did. Shikamaru being the assistant to the Hokage, he had no choice but to attend it in the former's place. Naruto couldn't help but feel relieved at this, he was nowhere near as confident or relaxed about this matter as Shikamaru was. It couldn't be helped; he lacked the experience that the other had.

Naruto would naturally learn over time, so he was in no rush to add the extra work onto his already full plate. He had enough precious experience to know better than to eat more than he could possibly managed. It just didn't mean that he learned from it.

Plus, he preferred going outside of the village to missions, rather than staying cooped inside all the time. He would never be able to get the same thrill out of doing paperwork as he did in fights. All too aware that one should normally fear for their lives while in battle, Naruto chalked it up to it being because the majority of the missions he has been on since he was twelve required him to put his own life at risk.

The thrill of his life rocking on the tip of the blade might have become like an addicting drug to him; the sweet sweet smell of smoke, the clang of blades and the sparks, flashes of light brought immense joy to his heart. How envious he was of Sasuke who was constantly travelling, discovering the world.

Naturally, Naruto understood why Sasuke chose to do such a thing and it wasn't something that he was jealous of. In contrast, he felt bad. Don't get it wrong, Naruto didn't pity Sasuke – he knew better than that – at all, or so he claimed, because he didn't actually know what to call it. He wasn't good with words or expressing himself. He just didn't want to refer to it as pity, he didn't want to feel like that towards the other.

Since there was still quite some time before Naruto was to become Hokage, he took advantage of all of the opportunities that were handed to him and travelled everywhere he could for his missions. One day, Naruto hoped to become like Jiraiya, even if it was for a moment.

With Shikamaru attending the meeting, Naruto chose to take the rest of the day off in favour of training, or, as Sakura called it, rehabilitation. He was aware that he wasn't to do anything extreme with his new arm, but he didn't like how helpless he felt. It started with moving his fingers, up down, side to side then bending. Then wrist, entire length of the arm then everything simultaneously, those seemed easy, he practised moving his fingers and wrist throughout the day whenever he was doing any paperwork, the arm during breaks.

It took a few days to actually get any of the joints moving though. Initially, he had no real feeling of the new limb, so it was infuriatingly difficult for the impatient Naruto to finally move a finger properly, after that it only got easier. Or so he'd like to say. It was a slow process and a mere week has passed since the operation, Sakura said he was already doing really well with how far he got, he just wasn't satisfied. It was taking too long.

Determined, Naruto made his way to the training grounds furthest away from the village. Due to the distance, it was most likely that there will be little to no people there, so he won't be disturbed. He wasn't planning on going big, just to practice some taijutsu, he needed to get used to his new arm as soon as possible so that he didn't become a nuisance during missions. What was the point of having an arm if he couldn't use it?

With Sakura's warning not to strain his arm, Naruto decided on a couple of matches against his clone. Then he'll be able to relax for the rest of the day. Maybe practice writing with his right hand, with his left hand, it looked like an academy student's handwriting.

Once he arrived, Naruto was relieved to find that there was no one else there. No one to witness the embarrassment that was sure to be bestowed upon him each time he failed. He should be used to it by now, but the feeling of shame that rose within him each time he failed didn't make for a good companion. Motivator, on the other hand, possibly.

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By the time Naruto finished, it was already getting dark. Not to say it was late, but with the sun gone, it was getting cold. Covered in sweat and with his energy drained, Naruto made his way back home. Or so he'd like to say, but through all his seventeen-plus years of living, he never actually learned to cook anything other than ramen, so he made his way to Ichiraku Ramen first. Then he'd go home.

He hoped that he'll meet a friend on the way, though. That way he wouldn't have to be at home for too long, there was just nothing for him to do. Other than clean, but he didn't feel like doing it now. It wasn't that dirty, anyway.

The chilly air helped him cool down, so it was a pleasant walk back. If only it was a couple of months back, when summer had just begun, the whole area would be lit by numberless fireflies. With the backdrop of darkness, they'd look like stars twinkling in the sky.

With only the darkness to guide him, Naruto walked leisurely back home. It wasn't even the evening yet and it was already so dark. Since normal civilians had no need to stray that far into the training fields, it was unnecessary to have streetlamps installed. There weren't that many shinobi who came to train here, they all preferred the fields that were closer to the village since it would save them time to travel, they were busy enough as it was and they would rather spend a little more time training than traveling.

He wandered how the Hyuga were doing, especially Hinata, after the loss of Neji. Naruto felt too guilty to face any of them so he avoided them as much as he possibly could. Neji died protecting him, after all. Hinata nearly did, too. Naruto knew that she tended to bottle herself up, she wasn't one to talk to others about her emotions. Neji was one of the only people that she actually opened up to, but who did she have now that he was gone?

Naruto knew that, as her friend, he should try and console her, talk to her. He shouldn't be so selfish and only think about his own feelings, especially since she must be hurting much more than he was.

Right! Naruto decided with renowned confidence; he was going to pay Hinata a visit with the next chance he had. Maybe he should ask a few other of their friends out for dinner, too? That way they could all cheer her up. Yes, she would probably like that. As shy as she was, Naruto was aware just how much she cared for her friends. After all, she nearly died protecting him when the village was attacked. Naruto was glad to have her as a friend.