Postby uc pseudonym » Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:03 am
And so, at long last, this all comes to an end...
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Epilogue
The wind blew through Naruto’s blond hair as he moved down the street, sending it randomly tumbling about him. It was remarkably refreshing, actually. Things had been pretty weighty in recent times, before with the terrible burden of his job and most recently cleaning up in so many petty ways. He might not like it, but it had to be done.
Today, however, he didn’t expect to be too bad at all. In the evening there was one meeting of extreme importance, but there he would only be speaking with a select few, and it should not be tiresome. Prior to that, he anticipated a long time to relax and do nothing. Of course, this morning was going to be enjoyable as well. How long has it been?
At least his job was made easier in a few respects. Though the city was crammed full of shinobi from all over the world, it made security not even worth considering. Between the villages there existed such a great feeling of kinship that there was no danger of any fights between them, not that any of the villages had disputes in any case. Anyone else attacking would be either suicidal or insane, considering that every other person you passed on the crowded streets could destroy an army. Today was the last day, but he was going to enjoy it while it lasted.
Before any of that, though, he had a much simpler task: rounding up all the participants. Most of them had been pretty easy to find, though he’d dealt with a few grumpy ones this early in the morning. They’d deal with it, though. He was almost to the end of his list, leaving only Sasuke and Hinata. Neji had told him Hinata was gone, so Naruto figured he might as well try for Sasuke. Chances were he was in his house if he was anywhere at all.
For a moment the Hokage paused on the street, just glancing up at the Uchiha house. It was still a large building, and somehow seemed sad. The damage done to it had been repaired, but the spirit of the home was gone. He had never seen it before the slaughter, but he always felt just a bit wistful around the place.
Most of the time it was empty, Naruto pondered, walking up to the door. Sasuke was the sole inhabitant, and he was almost always on a mission. That was probably part of why the place felt so desolate. Not that I really care about that... Sasuke-kun is there, and that’s all that really matters.
The front door was locked, at least for a moment. After a bit of fiddling, Naruto entered soundlessly, figuring there was no sense in waiting for someone to answer if no one was home. From the few times he’d been here he knew that Sasuke would be in the master bedroom at the far end of the ground floor. He was probably awake, but it couldn’t hurt to check.
As he moved down the hall, Naruto became aware of Sasuke’s chakra, exactly where it should be. Perhaps he’d slept in, then. Reaching the door at the end of the hallway, Naruto rapped on it with the back of his hand.
“Yo!â€