More //narusasu//

36. The Letter

Three years, two months and fourteen days.

That's how long it had been that Sasuke Uchiha had gone to his mission. The hokage office had received a total of seven letters, and three scrolls till now. Two of which had still yet to be decrypted. Every letter started with 'To the hokage' and ended with 'Sasuke Uchiha' . Each of them consisted of three paragraphs. All of them handwritten on a neat, white paper. Nothing more nothing less. Nothing to give away his location, of how was he holding up, or how much longer the mission was expected to be.

By now, the hokage had remembered every word of every letter by heart. He had visited the Uchiha's residence quite a few times till now, keeping it tidy and presentable for the Uchiha to use whenever was he to come back. He could sometimes be found in the Uchiha's bed on some nights, sleeping while hugging the owner's pillow.

But noone ever knew what was going on in his head, to the world he was still the happy go lucky Naruto, their kind, sweet hokage. Noone could tell what was he going through, noone but his trusted advisor, who empathized with him but that was all he could do for his friend, much to the Nara's dismay.

By now all of their friends were either married or had kids, except Sakura, who had decided to focus on her career for the time being. Naruto was glad that his whole gang knew about him and Sasuke and that everyone supported them whole heartedly.

Naruto couldn't wait to tell this to Sasuke. He could've written a book by now if he wanted to, that would contain all the things that he wanted to share with him.

My life, that's what I want to share with him, he thought. Where are you Sas?

At the moment he was sitting on the roof of the Uchiha's residence. Looking at the vast night sky, the stars were abundant but the moon could not be seen.

Why wouldn't the moon come out? Nothing seems complete without it. The stars seem undone and even the sun feels lonely. Come home Sasuke.

He sat there, knees bended while his head rested on them. All of a sudden he heard a flapping sound of wings, upon lifting his head he was surprised to be met with no ordinary bird, but was met with Garuda, Sasuke Uchiha's hawk summon. The blonde's eyed widened as he saw a letter attached to the bird's foot. It had been seven months since the last letter had arrived so he was nervous to say the least. All of the letters were delivered directly to the office and never to him personally, until now. Naruto instantly wiped away the stray tears that had been falling down his cheeks and grabbed the paper, hoping that everything was alright with the raven, while lightly petting the hawk.

"Good work Garuda", he said as he took a deep breath and opened the letter.

To Naruto
Currently I am residing at a small village in the land of stone, I plan to remain here for a few more days to pack up on supplies before I head out again.

You are welcome to reply to this letter. I hope I remain here by the time your reply comes.

Sasuke.

The blonde was spellbound. He had never received such a letter from the raven, a letter that was meant for him, not for the hokage, but him. And to top it all off, he could send a reply back! He could never before. He was so excited that he could cry. Jumping up he grabbed a paper and pen from the Uchiha's house and sat back down to write down the letter. Being the hokage, he got to write a number of letters on daily basis but this was something else. This was something completely different.

Sasuke Uchiha came out of the shower the third time that day. Showers are underrated, he thought. Celestial wastelands were sure to make anyone miss long showers. He wore a grey full sleeved shirt and black pants, to remain as comfortable as possible before he had to wear his mission gear again the next day for who knows how long.