Sage's Resurrection

Chapter VI

*1 year later*

"So Sasuke, how's Shisui?" Naruto grinned as they lay on the grass. The sun shone in the sky as Sayuri munched on some fried shrimp. An orange fox lay on Naruto's head, nestling into his hair, hind legs on his neck. He had explained to them that he kept it as a pet.

"He's fine, still a little bit stressed though. Itachi, too." He paused, taking in a mouthful of rice. "I still can't believe you managed to get yourself banned from the Uchiha compound." Naruto laughed, memories flooding back.

"Well, the copious amounts of glitter and fart bombs I used might've helped." Naruto grinned widely. "In my defence, Fugaku has a giant stick up his ass. I tried to help him out there." He chuckled.

"And helping him out constituted an extremely large amount of fireworks, paint, fart bombs, glitter, and of course, firecrackers in the hallway." Sayuri replied dryly, a smile etched onto her face.

"See, you get it." Naruto beamed. Sayuri's smile widened, morphing into a grin. Naruto paused, taking in a ball of mochi. The sweet disappeared down his gullet as the sugar flooded his system. He let the feeling wash over him, savoring the moment.

"Hey Naruto, what do you think of what's happening right now?" Sasuke shovelled more rice into his mouth.

"What do you mean?" Naruto inquired. "Do you mean how you've finally hit 600 attempted confessions? Or how we're going to start ninja training toda-" Sasuke cut Naruto off.

"No, I mean what's happening with the Uchiha. Like, it's obvious that something is happening. Dad looks like he's getting ready for war. Everyone's talking about a new development in hushed whispers." Naruto could almost feel the detachment yet worry about Sasuke's speech patterns. He rubbed Sasuke's back.

"Hey, it'll all be okay, right? I mean, that's how things always go. We'll be fine." Naruto stated exuberantly.

Sasuke's eyes were still clouded. Naruto could almost sense the indecision that rippled through Sasuke. The doubt vanished. He smiled. "Yeah, you're right. I don't know what got into me." A disembodied, unholy sound shrieked through the air, its origin from the bells. "Well, time to head back." They packed their lunch and headed in.

"Today we'll start ninja training." At this, many cheers were heard as everyone was ready to begin their road to 'awesome ninja powers', as Naruto heard a boy from the Inuzuka clan put it. Iruka tapped a chime that hung from the blackboard to regain order. The raw force of everyone's excitement overwhelmed the sound of the chime. Iruka tapped it again, with more force. This time, everyone settled, granting Iruka complete control over the class.

"As I was saying, we will be focusing currently on shurikenjutsu, or the art of throwing weapons." An assistant hauled in a sizable wooden crate, filled to the brim with razor-sharp kunai. A chorus of 'oh' rang out. Naruto sat there, his eyes dilating. There were so many kunai, and it was obvious just based on their designs that they were very high quality. It must've cost a fortune to get all of those, on top of other expenses for the academy. His respect for Iruka Umino rose by several notches, and judging by all of the smiles visible on everyone else's faces, they thought this as well. Even the stoic, closed off Hinata had a small smile adorning her.

"We'll be training in the target field. Come on." He smiled and motioned for them to follow him. Everyone bolted after him, their seats left precariously on the floor. Naruto looked at the chairs and sent a silent prayer to whoever was going to have to deal with this mess. Naruto followed after everyone, a small smile reaching his face. Soon, Sayuri and Sasuke caught up, and the three resumed their usual banter.

"You know, it's crazy just how far we've come," Sayuri grinned. "It feels like it was just yesterday when we came in for the first day." And met you, which was left unsaid, but she and Naruto both knew it.