Naruto gripped to that old and scratched headband like it was the last thing he'd do on this earth, as he rushed to the trees near Konoha's entrance.

"Are you sure about this?" Kakashi asked, as Sasuke was saying goodbye to him and Sakura.

"I am, nothing will be right if I just stayed like nothing happened" Sasuke refused, shaking his head side to side.

Kakashi sighed, but ended up nodding. "As you wish, kid"

"And…" Sasuke started saying, letting a sigh slip before speaking again. "Thank you for everything" he looked at Kakashi and Sakura, she smiled.

"We'll always be here" she added. "Just be careful"

Sasuke nodded and started walking away, a part of him was curious to why Naruto was not there, but the rest of him thought it might be for the best. If there was someone in this world he had done the most harm to, was him. Facing him was not easy.

But fate had other plans...

"Did you think I was going to let you leave just like that?" Naruto's voice suddenly came from the trees, Sasuke looked back, Naruto was leaning on one of the trees with his hand tucked in his pocket.

"I see your arm is not ready" he said turning completely towards him.

"Yours either" Naruto shrugged.

"I told you, I'm not accepting it" Sasuke shook his head. "I deserve this reminder" he said while looking at his missing right arm.

"Fine" Naruto said, still with a disapproving look.

"And don't tell me not to go" he added, looking back at his friend.

"Oh, I wasn't planning to" Naruto shrugged. "I kinda understand why you're doing this" he said as he stretched his back, letting a big sigh out after. "Not a fan, but I get it"

"Well, count me amazed" Sasuke said.

"I just" Naruto started, looking a bit nervous. "I just needed to say goodbye, okay?" he said, passing his hand through the back of his head, looking at the floor for a couple of seconds. "And to give you this" he smiled while pulling out the headband from his pocket, Sasuke gasped slightly.

"You still had that?" he frowned while Naruto extended the object to him.

"I couldn't throw it away" Naruto laughed. "It was…" he suddenly took a deep breath. Sasuke was in shock, Naruto was never this serious. "It kept me going, okay? I had to return this to you, I had to see you back" he said with a sad smile.

Sasuke's shocked expression relaxed, a warm feeling was swarming his heart, one he hadn't felt in a long time. He raised his hand and slowly took the headband, goosebumps rushed through his body, he hadn't hold that headband in such a long time.

"Thanks" he said with a soft smile as he tied the headband to his belt.

They both wanted to say something more, but none of them had realized it fully.

"Maybe by the time you come back I'll already be Hokage!" Naruto laughed.

Sasuke snorted "Getting your hopes high I see"

Naruto frowned "Very funny" he sighed, but kept a smile on his face. "Just come back, okay?"

They looked at each other for a while, until Sasuke spoke.

"I will" he said patting the headband on his belt.

Naruto smiled and extended his hand to shake Sasuke's. He smiled back and reached to shake his friend's hand as well. But as soon as they touched, Naruto pulled him closer and hugged his friend, Sasuke was in shock, but after a few seconds he hugged Naruto back.

They were still for a couple of seconds until Naruto started letting go.

"Good luck, rogue" Naruto said with a big smile.

"Same to you, Hokage in training" Sasuke made a bow and started walking away again, jumping to the trees soon after.

Naruto sighed and starting walking back to his house.

Both were left wondering when they'd see each other again.

Sasuke had left almost one month ago, life had gone back to its routine, Naruto had gotten use to his new arm and Hokage training had begun. Konoha felt weird since Sasuke left. Not that it ever got back to normal back in the day the first time he left the village, but now it was even weirder. He couldn't quite put a finger on the why, he just knew it was different.

And on a lazy saturday morning, Naruto had turned off his alarm, still in bed and falling back asleep, when he heard a thud. It was a very soft sound but it managed to wake him up.

Who the fuck is waking me up so early on a saturday?, he complained as he barely stood up and dragged himself to the door.

But nobody or nothing was there.

Thud, he heard it again.

Window, he thought, rubbing his eyes, and went to the window right above his bed. "The fuck?" he said as he looked outside.

Turns out there was a small purple snake in his window, knocking on the window with his tail, its eyes fixed on him.

Naruto was about to just close the curtains and ignore it, but he saw something white on its back. A scroll, perhaps?

He opened the window and the snake immediately showed what was on his back. It was indeed a paper scroll. Naruto took it and the snake curled beside the window.

"What the heck…" he muttered as he unscrolled the paper.

His eyes were wide open as soon as he started reading:

"It's Sasuke."

Naruto sat in the bed in shock. His hands shaking.

"I said to myself that I wouldn't do this. I swore I was not going to. But something kept nagging me so finally gave in. For some reason I wanted to let you know I'm okay. Don't ask me why.

Anyway, so far everything has been very quiet. Thank god. Right now I'm in the middle of nowhere, right in the border of the land of fire.

Yesterday I was in a fishing village, I got some fish and I did some helping loading supplies to some boats and I got money too.

Tomorrow I'll go to the next village, see what's going on there. Maybe some more work and more food. I'm honestly surprised by how peaceful everything is.

So, I don't know why I'm writing I just know I am. Not even sure if this will reach you, I'm trusting the snakes for the first time.

Don't reply ok? You don't have to. I don't even know if the snake would bring it back.

I'm off to sleep.

I don't know if I'll write more, probably, probably not. I'll see how I feel about this in the morning.

And please, don't tell anyone about this.

Uchiha Sasuke."

"The fuck?" He asked as soon as he finished reading. He looked to the window, the snake was still there. He sighed and let himself fall into the bed, still with the letter in his hand.

But that's when he noticed a smile creeping into his face, then a soft laughter. A warm feeling was filling his chest.

"I have to reply" he said suddenly and sat up, ran to his desk and started writing on a small piece of paper. Even if Sasuke had said not to, how could he not reply?

"But...what do I say?"

He kept staring at the blank piece of paper for a while. Maybe he could talk about the training, or the arm, or just what he ate for dinner last night.

No, that last one would be awkward, he thought.

"Oh, what the hell" he snorted and started writing whatever came to mind.

Hey, Sasuke

"Ugh, no" he hissed, crumpled the paper and threw it behind his back.

Grabbed a new one.

I can't believe you wrote.

"Nope, either" he sighed and did the same thing as the last paper.

Grabbed a new one, again.

I can't say it's not good to know from you.

"Well, maybe?…" he said as he continued writing.

He finished the letter and tied it back to the snake, as soon as he did that, the animal ran down the wall and vanished as soon as it touched the ground.

"Fuck" he said suddenly "How am I going to keep this from people?" he almost yelled, putting his two hands alongside his face, looking with horror at the floor. "How am I going to keep it from Sakura?"

And please, don't tell anyone about this.

Sasuke was always a private, and dare he say it, shy person. He'd kill him if he knew he told even just one soul.

"I guess I'll have to try. Maybe, if the subject doesn't come up I might don't even remember" he laughed nervously. "Yeah, I can do this" he kept laughing for a couple of seconds, then sighed.

Knock, knock

He looked at the door, he tried and remember what was he supposed to be doing today, but to be perfectly honest that letter had made him forget about his whole day.

He shook his head a few times, passed his hands through his hair once, slapped himself and went for the door.

"Shikamaru!"

"You are late" Shikamaru said, unamused, saying every word slowly.

Naruto drew a nervous smile.

"To…" Naruto started saying, knowing it would only make Shikamaru angrier.

Shikamaru sighed. "Meeting with Kakashi"

"Oh! Yes, meeting with Kakashi" he laughed. "I knew, I was just testing you"

Shikamaru kept his unamused face, not moving a muscle.

"I will get ready" he said, defeated, running to his bedroom, Shikamaru came in, closing the door behind him.

"If you want to be the next Hokage you can't oversleep, Naruto" Shikamaru said while Naruto changed.

"I know, I'm sorry! I'll do my best so it doesn't happen again!" Naruto smiled while jumping around trying to get his pants on.

"This is the third time in a month" he said crossing his arms. "Also, you have lunch with Sakura, she asked me to tell you" Shikamaru added.

"Oh, thanks" he fell right to the floor after that, but finally with his pants on. "Fuck" he muttered as he stood up.

Shikamaru sighed. "So problematic"

Naruto quickly put on his jacket, brushed his teeth and met Shikamaru at the door.

"Ready!" he said with a smile.

"I guess this will do, let's go" Shikamaru shrugged and left the apartment, followed by Naruto.