Happy Valentine's Day! I wrote a quick little one shot for Valentine's Day. I hope you enjoy!

Standard disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and the next manga chapter would have Naruto sending a shadow clone to Sakura to deliver some flowers!

Please do enjoy, "That Overused Excuse"

Naruto stood on top of the Hokage's monument overlooking all of Konoha. It had been three years since he had stopped Madara and ended the Fourth Great Shinobi War. It was during a cold winter day like today that he had entered into that final battle with Madara.

He went after Madara by himself, but Sasuke, who Naruto thought he beat weeks before, appeared and helped Naruto fight Madara. The two's collective efforts were enough to overcome Madara's power and they managed to save the world.

Team 7 was briefly reunited after that when Kakashi and Sakura joined Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura instantly started fussing over Naruto's wounds and healed him while Sasuke stood silently on watching the scene with a small smile on his face. Everything looked like it was going to be the perfect happy ending Naruto had always planned on having. Then Sasuke opened his mouth….

FLASHBACK

"This… this doesn't change anything just so you know…Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura." Sasuke said solemnly.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi inquired.

"I'm not coming back to Konoha, I'm not your ally, and I'm not your comrade. Our bonds are still broken." Sasuke explained with a hint of sadness in his voice. "There is no going back for me; I've ventured too far into the darkness to ever come back out."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Naruto yelled. "There's no reason for you not to come back with us."

"Sasuke…" Sakura started quietly. "Thank you, for helping Naruto. For that, I will not view you as an enemy unless you attack Konoha, nor will I try to stop you right now."

Naruto looked back at Sakura with a look of shock on his face. "Sakura what are you saying?"

"She's saying that she's grateful Sasuke helped keep you alive." Kakashi gently explained. "And she's saying that she understands Sasuke will never return, and is saying goodbye."

Naruto looked into Sakura's eyes; there was no sorrow present in them, only gratitude. It didn't make sense… Sakura should either be bawling her eyes out because Sasuke was about to walk out of their lives forever or doing everything in her power to stop him... or both!

"As for me, I'm with Sakura. Thanks for helping Naruto, Sasuke. Stay safe and please don't come after Konoha, I'd hate to have to kill you." Kakashi gave Sasuke a one-eyed smile.

"Sasuke this is stupid!" Naruto protested.

"Say goodbye to him or you'll regret you didn't for the rest of your life." Sakura whispered quietly in his ear."

"There's really no way you're coming back?" Naruto asked.

"No. It's better for me, it's better for all of you, and it's better for Konoha if I stay away. As long as you three live in Konoha, I will not attack it."

"But I'm supposed to save you before I become Hokage!" Naruto tried desperately.

Sasuke smirked. "I never needed to be saved dobe. But if it makes you feel any better, after you spared my life during our battle, I realized that I could never destroy Konoha, because that would mean destroying you. So you've saved me from sinking further into the darkness."

"I CAN BRING YOU OUT OF IT DAMNIT!" Naruto yelled desperately.

"Not even you can do that Naruto… I have many sins to atone for."

"So what will you do then?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm not sure." Sasuke admitted. "Travel the world; help those who I can in an effort to slowly atone for all the suffering I've caused from the darkness."

"You should leave soon." Sakura said. "Alliance forces will be arriving and they won't let you go."

Sasuke nodded, turned around and started walking away.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, causing the Uchiha to freeze in his tracks and tense his muscles just in case Naruto tried to attack. "Goodbye."

Sasuke looked over his shoulder and Naruto could've sworn he saw a hint of a true smile. "So long…Naruto."

FLASH IN

And then Sasuke Uchiha disappeared from the face of the earth. Not even the combined intelligence of the Shinobi Alliance was able to come up with anything on him. Sasuke had truly left their lives for good.

So life went on, and Naruto's friendship with Sakura had continued to flourish. They had become nearly inseparable, but Naruto was careful not to cross the line of friendship.

Naruto frowned as he thought about Sakura. He had never talked to her about her confession in Iron Country, because he didn't want to risk putting any tension on their friendship.

Sometimes he thought she might be flirting with him, but he never acted on those thoughts. If he misinterpreted her actions then he could make a mistake that would cost him the friendship of his most important person.

Sakura's friendship was always one of the most important things to him, but now that his best friend and brother had forever walked out of his life, her friendship was more important than ever. So even though he wanted to make a move, he would never. It was just too big of a risk for him to take.

"My my, this is a strange sight. The great hero of the war overlooking his home village with a frown on his face? And on such a beautiful winter day…" An old crackly sounding voice interrupted Naruto from his thoughts and he whirled around to see a wrinkled old woman smiling at him.

"Eh? How'd you get up here old lady?" Naruto asked. Even after all of these years, Naruto was yet to learn to respect his elders.

The old woman chuckled and handed Naruto a steaming mug. "Here, take this hot chocolate. It will help make you feel better."

Naruto stared at the old woman, but felt no negative or malicious vibes coming from her, and gratefully accepted the beverage. He took a sip of the warm drink as he returned his attention to the village below.

"Thanks."

"Oho! No problem! Now what could have a young hero such as yourself looking so down?"

"Oh it's nothing." Naruto replied quietly.

"Lady troubles right?"

"WHAT?" Naruto gasped and then proceeded to point an accusatory finger at the old woman. "What are you some sort of mind reader? It's the hot chocolate isn't it? This is some sort of special ninja hot chocolate that lets you read the thoughts of whoever drinks it isn't it?"

The old woman chuckled. "No no, nothing like that. The hot chocolate is just some good old fashioned cocoa that I bought at the shops below. I saw you standing up here so I bought you a cup as well."

"Then how did you read my mind?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

The old woman howled in laughter. "I did nothing of the sort my boy. It's just when you've been around for as long as I have, you tend to pick up on those sorts of things."

"Oh…" Naruto said as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Well I guess that makes sense."

"So what seems to be the trouble?" The old woman pressed.

"I don't really want to talk about it. It's private and I would prefer that it stays in my head where no one from this village can find out about it."

"An admirable strategy, but you'll go insane if you bottle something like that up. Why don't you tell me? I'm an old woman from Kiri who's in the final years of her life. I don't know anyone from this village, and I have no reason to betray your trust after everything you've done for this world."

Naruto looked at the old woman. It would be nice to vent his frustrations out…

"I'll buy you some ramen if you tell me." The old woman coerced. Naruto's love of ramen was well-known across the land.

"Really?" Naruto asked with an excited look on his face.

"Yep, now tell me what's up!"

Naruto sighed. "Ok…well it's a bit of a long story, but here goes. I've been in love with this girl ever since I was a little boy… I know a lot of people don't believe in love in first sight, but that's what it was for me. I was in love with Sakura from the very first time I saw her."

The old woman's eyes widened in surprise momentarily, but they returned to normal so quickly that Naruto thought he might have been seeing things.

"Sounds like the start of a great love story."

"It might have been… but she was in love with someone else. She was in love with a guy who would eventually become my greatest friend, brother, enemy, rival… you name it. The fact was that he was everything I wasn't- strong, silent, handsome, mysterious…"

"Hey don't sell yourself short!" The old woman protested with a slightly guilty look in her eyes. "You may not be silent, but you're a handsome boy, you're caring, brave, determined and your strength is the reason we're not all under Madara Uchiha's control right now."

Naruto chuckled at the old woman. "Well, yeah, I guess. But back then I wasn't. She hated me so much back then…She told me herself that she thought I was annoying. It was funny…I henged into Sasuke to find out what she really thought about me, and I found out she hated me."

The old woman's eyes widened in surprise, and Naruto was a little curious as to why her eyes looked slightly guilty.

"I'm sure she didn't actually hate you. She was probably just too focused on going with the crowd she didn't really try to see past your surface." The old woman defended.

Naruto quirked his eyebrow at the old woman. "Umm… right. Well, let's just say she wasn't my biggest fan. But anyways, Sakura, Sasuke and I were all put on a team together. I was so excited to be on Sakura's team, Sakura was so excited to be on Sasuke's team, and Sasuke was so…well he wasn't really excited."

"Ah yes, Team 7 correct? Your sensei was Kakashi Hatake himself?"

"Yep! Us three… we bonded during our short time together as a team, and Sakura started treating me a little better. She even visited me when I was in the hospital after protecting her from Gaara. Everything was going well… until Sasuke left.

Sakura tried to stop him by confessing her love to him, but Sasuke knocked her out and left. I was part of the squad that was tasked with retrieving him. Before we could head out, Sakura begged me to bring Sasuke back to her. I could see how much she loved him, and it killed me inside. But I made Sakura my promise of a lifetime that I would bring him back to her… But I never did fulfill that promise." Naruto added sadly.

"She's not some 12-year-old girl anymore, I'm sure she doesn't hold a promise that you made when you were 12 over you." The old woman said.

"Wait… I didn't give any ages. How did you know how old I was back then?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

The old woman gulped. "Ok, so I may have done my homework on you. I know the technical details of your story, because you story hits close to home for me. When I was younger I foolishly ignored the man who I would come to love when I grew older, and then I discovered my feelings far too late. Now go on, keep talking! You need to get this off your chest, I can tell!"

The old woman's story did make sense… "Ok. So I confronted Sasuke and failed to bring him back and Sasuke nearly killed me. I'll never forget the look of disappointment on her face when she walked into my room to ask me where Sasuke was. But she swallowed her disappointment and promised me we would get stronger together, and the both of us would bring Sasuke back."

"Disappointment?" The old woman asked. "You think she was disappointed?"

"Of course she was; I failed her!"

"I see…" The old woman mused thoughtfully. "Well, I bet she would never think or say you failed her. But continue on."

Naruto thought about arguing with the old woman. This old woman may be wise, but she didn't see Sakura's face. Sakura definitely thought he failed her... because he did. But seeing the look on the old woman's face, Naruto decided to just continue on with his story. This woman looked so interested in the story, and it was nice to finally talk about everything from the very beginning like this...

"So after that I went on a training trip with Jiraiya for a couple of years, and when I returned, Sakura seemed generally happy to see me."

"I'm sure she was. I bet she missed you more than you know while you were gone." The old woman said with a soft smile.

"Right… So this was all right before the war, and we started getting closer and closer. After she found out that I had the Kyubi in me and the Akatsuki were hunting me, she became a little more protective of me. I started thinking that maybe, maybe there was hope that she could be mine yet."

"Sounds like she started to realize she loved you back then." The old woman noted.

"Well… I don't know about that. There were plenty of times where I was reminded of her love for Sasuke, but the worst reminder came while I was in the Iron Country during the Kage Summit."

The old woman gasped and looked away with a very guilty look in her eyes, but Naruto didn't notice, he was too distracted by one of the memories he was currently recollecting.

"She came all the way to Iron Country from Konoha and told me that she loved me. It was a dream come true, but I could tell that something was off. It just seemed too forced, I could see that she had some sort of ulterior motive."

"I'm sure she meant it!" The old woman protested.

"No, she didn't. After I denied her, my teammate Sai informed me that Sakura found out how much the promise I made to her when we were kids was hurting me, so confessed her "love" to me to remove the burden from my shoulders. Then she would be able to stop Sasuke's descent into darkness herself. She was going to save the one she truly loved by killing him before he could completely lose himself."

"Sai said that?" The old woman growled with a hint of anger. "That bastard…"

"You know Sai?" Naruto asked with a confused look on his face.

"What? Oh, no! I had a friend named Sai from my past who played a similar role in my story." The old woman replied with a smile. "I'm sure he didn't know what he was talking about Naruto. Sure part of that may have been true, but I'm sure that Sakura wouldn't have told you she loved you if she didn't mean it."

"Well… that's exactly what she did." Naruto replied. "After that I gave up on ever getting together with Sakura. I knew that her heart belonged to Sasuke and there would never be anything I could do to get it. So I focused on strengthening Sakura and my's friendship."

"And did you ever act on your feelings for her?"

"Of course not! Sakura's friendship is the most important thing in the world to me. I can't afford to risk our friendship by confessing my feelings for her when she doesn't return them."

"How did Sakura act after the war?" The old woman questioned, deciding to switch tactics.

"She became even better friends with me. She makes time to spend with me everyday which is nice. We usually grab dinner together a couple of times a week as friends, and she'll spend the night at my place on nights when she doesn't have to work at the hospital in the morning."

"How does she look at you?" The old woman pressed.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Does she smile a lot? Laugh a lot?"

"Well… I guess she's always smiling at me, and she laughs at every one of my jokes."

"Does she touch you more than she used to?"

"Uh… I guess. She hugs me at least daily, usually puts her hands on my arms when talking to me, and whenever we sit side by side she rests her head on my shoulder."

"Well she's obviously trying to send you signals Naruto." The old woman said with a knowing smile.

"You don't know what you're talking about old lady! Sakura isn't sending any signals; we've just become very good friends."

"Who are you going to the Valentine's Day Dance tonight with?"

"Sakura… why?"

"It's a pretty romantic dance, with all of the beautiful love-themed decorations; it's not really something two friends would go to together."

"Sakura and I are going as just friends!" Naruto protested defiantly.

"You should ask her to treat it as a date." The old woman pressed with a hopeful smile. "I guarantee you she will happily say yes."

"No way! I told you, Sakura probably doesn't like me like that, and I can't risk our friendship!"

The old woman sighed. "What a stupid and overused excuse. Is your friendship with Sakura really so weak that it will instantly crumble if you confess your feelings and for some reason she doesn't return them? Which by the way, I'm telling you she does."

"It's not like that! We would still be friends, but I don't want to make anything awkward for Sakura. And I'm telling you she doesn't like me!"

"So you're determined not to make anything awkward for Sakura even at the price of making both her and you happy?"

"'..That." Naruto repeated.

The old woman sighed again. "What will it take for me to convince you to confess your love to this girl?"

"Nothing can. I'm never going to confess my true feelings for Sakura. I decided that long ago."

A disappointed frown flickered across the old woman's face, and a slight look of…hurt? A slight look of hurt appeared in her eyes. Naruto was about to open his mouth to question what was wrong, but the old woman cut him off.

"Well listen… I know from experience that if you have feelings as strong as you have for Sakura, they'll eat you up from the inside if you don't confess them."

"I'm not confessing to Sakura, drop it!" Naruto took a long swig of his hot chocolate and relished in the feeling of the warm liquid pouring down his throat. He much preferred the sensation of the hot chocolate going down his throat than the butterflies that gathered in his stomach at the mere thought of confessing his true feelings to Sakura.

"Then confess to me as if I'm Sakura." The old woman commanded.

"WHAT? Listen old lady… I'm interested in women a little younger than you…"

"Not to me you baka, imagine that I am Sakura. Trust me; this will help you move on with your life. I told you this story hit close to home for me. I had to watch as the man I loved walked about his life with a mask on because he couldn't get over his feelings for me, even after I discovered my feelings for him and realized it was too late."

"I…"

"Naruto this will help you a great deal." The old woman pressured.

"I can't! For something like that I would need to prepare a speech. I haven't thought about it at all!"

"You seem to be the type of person who speaks best from your heart, just give it a try."

"This is really weird." Naruto whined.

"Get over it and confess so you can move on to the next stage of your life already!" The old woman growled irritably.

"Jeez, ok! Just calm down, I'll do it…even if this is one of the stranger things I've ever done."

The old woman looked into Naruto's eyes with an excited look on her face.

Naruto took a deep breath and stared into the old woman's eyes, imagining he was staring into Sakura's instead of some weird old lady.

"Sakura, I don't remember what it's like to be alive and not love you; I've been in love with you for that long. From the very first time I caught sight of that charming forehead of yours, I was hooked."

The old woman's eyes widened and she smiled softly.

"You're the perfect woman in my eyes. You're strong, you're sexy, you're caring, you're feisty… yet at the same time you allow yourself to be vulnerable in front of me. You allow me to protect you… you have no idea how much that means to me."

A gust of wind blew small flurries of snow around around Naruto and the old woman, who now strangely enough had tears in her eyes.

"You're the most beautiful thing to ever walk this earth, and there is nothing that will ever stop me from loving you. I've always dreamed of being Hokage, but I've always had one dream even bigger than that one… One dream that I never told anyone about."

Tears were now flowing down the old woman's eyes and she had a happy smile on her face.

"My ultimate dream Sakura-chan…is to be with you. Today I make a new promise of a lifetime to you, one that this time I will definitely keep- as long as I'm alive you'll never be alone, and as long as I'm alive, and long after I'm dead, I will always love you."

"NARUTO!" The old woman lunged forward and caught Naruto in a hug, but that's not what caused Naruto's eyes to widen in surprise. No, what shocked Naruto was the voice of the "old woman," it was a voice that he would always recognize. He also noticed that the "old woman" didn't actually feel very wrinkly, in fact, her skin was smooth and soft.

"Sa…kura?" Naruto gasped in shock as a puff of smoke enveloped both his and the "old woman's" bodies. The smoke cleared to reveal a pink-head of hair pressed tightly against his chest, and the arms that were wrapped tightly around them were the smooth and creamy arms of his favorite teammate.

Sakura was crying into Naruto's chest as he stared down at her with a completely bewildered expression on his face. Naruto brought himself out of his shock as he tried to figure out why Sakura was crying. Despite all of the "old woman's" hints, Naruto still arrived at the wrong conclusion.

"Sakura, I'm sorry. This is why I didn't want to confess to you. I knew you would feel bad when...UMPH!" Naruto was cut off by the soft lips of the girl of his dreams pressing passionately against his own.

Sakura pulled away from the kiss with a soft smile. "I've wanted to do that for so long." She whispered happily.

All logical thoughts were erased from Naruto's mind. Sakura's kissed caused him to go into shock overload.

Sakura giggled at his bewildered expression and gave him another quick peck on the lips. Her peck brought Naruto out of his stupor.

"Why did you do that?" Naruto asked seriously. This just didn't make sense.

"Well… for starters, I love you too." Sakura replied with a sheepish grin. "As to why I kissed you? I just told you! Because I've been wanting to for a while now, that's why!"

"But…but… you don't like me like this." Naruto stammered. "You would've made a move if you did…"

"I do like you like this." Sakura leaned in and gave Naruto another quick kiss. "And I didn't make a move because I was scared of what would happen if I did. The last time I tried to confess my feelings to you, you told me I was lying to myself and rejected my confession. I was scared of that happening again, so I started trying to send you every hint and signal in the book to get you to make the first move."

"You were…scared?"

"Yep! I didn't want to lose you! But you never made a move, no matter what I tried to give you confidence to ask me out. But I noticed that you started wearing a mask around me at times, and I asked Tsunade and Kakashi about it. They both told me you were probably repressing your feelings for me, and I wanted that to be the real answer so I could finally march up to you and make you mine… But your rejection last time kept me from fully believing their advice."

"How did…I…"

"So I asked you to the Valentine's Day Dance, which typically is known to be more of a romantic event. I hoped that you would jokingly say it's a date, but instead you said, and I quote, "as friends right?" I waited for you to turn it into a date, but you never did."

"Sakura-chan…I…"

Another gust of wind blew more flurries of snow around the two teammates.

"So I henged into an old woman and enacted this plan. Once I found out that you still love me, I was confident enough to make you confess your feelings to me." Sakura finally finished with a smile.

"So you actually…"

"Love you. Yep."

A giant foxy grin overtook Naruto's face. "Hey Sakura?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you mind treating our night at the Valentine's Day Dance as a date?"

Sakura chuckled. "Of course I will baka."

Naruto smiled and gently kissed Sakura's forehead.

"Oh Naruto?"

"Hmm?"

"Told you so." Sakura quipped with a bright grin.

Naruto's smile widened. "I'm glad you did."

Surprise surprise! It's Sakura in disguise! It's the ninja world, so any self respecting shinobi can henge into anything, which has always left me wanting to write a story about Sakura finding out about Naruto's feelings for her while she's henged. Voila!

Did you know the old woman was Sakura before she revealed herself?

As always, reviews are much appreciated!