Stream of past

Home Again

The Uchiha cenotaph was a beautiful work of art. It was made black of marble, placed near the abandoned Uchiha compound and training ground 7. It depicted a crow trying to fly away from a sea of hands, one of them holding onto one of it's legs, trying to drag it down, in it's beak it held the Uchiha fan, the only part of the cenotaph that was painted. Underneath the statue, there was a plaque naming all of the souls that were lost that day. Behind it, was an Ume tree, it's large branches providing shade for those who came to pay their respects, like the young man here today. He had long black hair, tied in a low ponytail and onyx eyes, a dented hitai-ate was tied around his forehead. He wore a blue shirt with wide sleeves that almost reached his elbows and white lines around the endings and around the collar, with a mesh shirt underneath that peaked from under the sleeves, long black pants, black fingerless gloves with metal plating and blue sandals. On his back, the Uchiha crest was proudly displayed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't visit you at your actual graves, Mother, Father." said Sasuke. "But rumor has it a certain orange menace has returned to the village and I don't want to miss the chance to rub my chunin rank in his face." He turned his head to look at the sky. "I also want to visit Sakura." He lowered his head back to the statue. "I'll see you soon."

After Sasuke left, you could see a bouquet of kikyo flowers, Mikoto's favourites and a bottle of Kiri liquor, Fugaku's favourite placed in front of the cenotaph.

...

"Finally! The Leaf Village!" said Naruto as he and Jiraiya passed the gate. "God I missed this place!"

"Excited to be home, Naruto?" asked Jiraiya.

"You know I am, Pervy Sage! I can't wait to see Karin, Kakashi-sensei, Granny Tsunade and even Sasuke!"

"Well, don't let me stop you, go see your friends and family, I can get to Tsunade on my own."

"Thanks, Ero-sennin! I'll see ya at the tower." with that, Naruto climbed an electricity pole so he could get a better look at the village. His silver studs glinted from his left ear. "Man, this takes me back. It hasn't changed at all! Yo, Konoha! Naruto Uzumaki has officially come back!"

A stone hit him on the back of his head and he almost lost balance and fell. Looking to the left he found Sasuke on a nearby rooftop. "You haven't changed one bit, have you, usuratonkachi? You're still as loud as ever."

"Is that you, teme? What's with hair?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Paying homage, when did you get back?"

"Just now, it's good to see you bastard."

"You too, dobe. Race you to the Hokage Tower." with that, Sasuke jumped away.

"Wh- Hey! Don't cheat, asshole!" with a laugh, Naruto started following him.

...

Sasuke reached the tower first, but Naruto swears it's only because he cheated. They climbed in through the window, just like Kakashi taught them and arrived only a few seconds before Jiraiya.

"It's been a long time, you two." said Tsunade. "I'm sure your training produced good results, no?"

"Do you think we came back without making any progress?" asked Jiraiya.

"It went great!" said Naruto. "I bet I can kick Sasuke's ass blindfolded."

"In your dreams, dobe. After all, you're still a genin!"