A/N: I got bored at two in the morning. Thanks for keeping me company, Oraday! Also, I blame this entirely on my muse.

Disclaimer: If they were mine, there would be a lot of butt-sechs.

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Team Seven.

Uzumaki Naruto sighed as he sipped his beer, Haruno Sakura swooning over Uchiha Sasuke, who was ignoring her. Hatake Kakashi kept giggling to himself as he read his perverted book, and Naruto had to admit, he was a little worried about the man.

"Come on, Sasuke-kun. Just one date!"

"I said no, Sakura." The raven sighed before looking at Naruto. "Dobe, stop acting so uncaring over there and get Haruno off my back."

"Mou, so rude to me, Sasuke-kun." The rosette pouted.

Naruto ignored them as he continued to sip his beer. He was twenty-seven years old. He wasn't the stupid little kid people used to tease him for being. He was a man, now, and a man wasn't going to rise to the teme's bait. Not now, not ever again.

"Maa, Naruto." Kakashi bent towards him, pointing to a part in his book. "Can you read this aloud to me? I'm finding it hard to focus." He was obviously smiling under that mask of his.

Naruto ignored him, knowing it was just a perverted passage. Kakashi had tricked him once, back when he was seventeen or eighteen. Naruto had grabbed the book and began reading loudly, only to pause and stutter a few sentences later when it described in horrendously graphic detail how a girl was being deflowered by the main character.

The blond had never lived it down.

"Come on, Naruto." Sakura's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Read it. You know you want to."

Naruto just shook his head at her immaturity, not understanding how she could still be this way. She should've grown up. And she was the one who used to chew him out about his Harem no Jutsu. Now, she was almost as perverted as Kakashi. Guess it's cause we're too influenced by the baka, Naruto thought with a sigh.

Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Neji were across the bar, occasionally looking over at the table before whispering between themselves. Naruto knew they were there, and whispering about him, but he ignored them. He didn't really care. They could whisper all they wanted.

"I hear we have a mission tomorrow." Sasuke said, his hands clasped together and resting before his mouth. "Orochimaru is on the move. We need to ensure he's stopped."

"No one can stop him." Naruto whispered into his beer. "Everyone who tries just dies."

"Now that's not an optimistic thing to say!" Sakura snapped, glaring at the blond.

"But it's the truth." he whispered again. He stared down into his beer for a few seconds, watching as the liquid swirled slightly.

"Naruto."

The blond's head snapped back, shocking him out of his daze and he turned to look up at Kiba. The brunette was frowning down at him, a look of concern in his eyes. "You've been sitting here for a while. Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, putting his beer down and standing. "I was just—reminiscing."

"We have a mission tomorrow; you should probably get some sleep." Neji whispered, the two shinobi recognizing the look on the blond's face.

"I'll be fine, Neji, don't worry." He smiled reassuringly, but his eyes didn't light up, and his smile looked forced. Kiba and Neji just left it at that, allowing the blond to walk away from them.

As Naruto exited the bar, he sighed as he saw the large drops of water falling from the sky. Rain, he sighed, shaking his head. He hated rain. But, he had to get home, so he walked out into it, anyway. The water sloshed around his feet as he walked, causing a disgusting feeling to settle itself between his toes when mud got into his sandals.

He was just about to turn onto his street when a crack of lightning lit up the area he was in, and something glinted in the night. He turned, his eyes fixing on the memorial stone. He wanted to look away, but something compelled him to walk towards it.

He entered the training grounds and stopped in front of the large memorial stone, his hands in his pockets and rain running down his face. He stared at the recent names engraved on the stone. There had been six more deaths since the three that Naruto missed the most had appeared on the stone. The names he came to see every day for an hour.

Haruno Sakura.

Hatake Kakashi.

Uchiha Sasuke.

A hand fell onto Naruto's shoulder. "Maa, maa. Why are you standing here in the rain, Naruto? Tsunade-sama will be worried if you catch cold."

"Hn, cause he's a dobe."

"Really, Naruto. You shouldn't make yourself sick all the time. It slows us down."

Slowly, Naruto brought his hands up to his ears, covering them. His lower lip quivered as the rain masked his tears. It had been four years since the three of them had died.

When...

When was he going to stop hearing them in his head?

END.