Disclaimer: Naruto is copyrighted, owned, and trademarked by Masashi Kishimoto. etc, etc.

Summary: Thirty-five years after Naruto and Sasuke last met and their fates were decided, the war finally begins. Sasuke's second goal to give birth to a new generation of Uchiha has been met, and with the methods used - they are stronger than ever before. Uchiha Madara still lives strong, having captured eight of the nine bijuu, causing unrest amongst the larger nations. The war begins, and everybody knows how it will end; the hard part is not losing sight of yourself in the process. [AU starting at Chapter 486]

In a world like this, beautiful days were usually deceiving. If the sun was willing to cast its reflection off the manmade mountain-range and the sky managed to be so wide, open, and clear that a person could nearly see the heavens, it would be easy for a person to forget a world existed beyond their own walls For many though, the world they know circles around that very idea; the more effective the façade, the more beautiful the world... for people like this, beautiful days just create a better opportunity to keep others from seeing what the world really was.

But in the end, these days ame and went – there was nothing permanent about them.

Knowing this full and well, Uzumaki Naruto couldn't get enough of these days. The sun, the wind, and the dry, over-bearing heat had such a power over him, he could never step outside in the early afternoon without becoming antsy, suddenly intent on wasting time away. Useless days were the best days.

Today was kind of like that.

Today, after stumbling through his daily routine, Naruto could think of nothing better than to take an unreasonable amount of time to admire the world around him: Konohagakure was moving smoothly; the villagers were busy with their daily lives, and he had yet to be approached with news of a new dire emergency. All these minor things together left him with only one remaining conundrum: was it possible to avoid responsiblity, today?

Of course it was! He was infamous for it, and the amount of times it had bit him in the ass – his track-record had shown this since his earliest days at the academy... and, with that simple thought, his predicament was no more.

Not much later, a robe-clad Naruto ended up in a place he considered himself to be most familiar with – a small classroom, closely resembling a small lecture hall. It had been an easy task to get there, which pleased him immensely. This aging man had been prepared with all sorts of fun ways to avoid anyone who would demand his attention – the most embarrassing, if not the most satisfying of which, came from hours of staring at the portraits of previous Hokages, and because of it, spending quite a while in front of a mirror, perfecting his own piercing gaze... sadly, it turned out being Hokage was enough; others automatically assumed Naruto walked with purpose, having an important place to be. Still containing some of the same characteristics he was famous for as a boy, it was a bit more difficult to come off as 'dignified'.

Luckily, Hokage was a title which carried even more weight than the reputation of an attention-starved little blonde boy. In fact, there were only a select few who were able to control the man known as The Seventh without inflicting violence; even fewer who believed they were capable of getting away with it... the boy who had spent so much time coming up with ways to stand out would be moved to tears with pride. The man who had spent just as much time trying to fufil people's expectations found... he no longer cared. Uzumaki Naruto had long since stopped truly caring about being a hero – now he had to continue to be one.

"Neh, Sensei... Have you taught them about me, yet?"

With those words, the lesson-plans "Sensei" had prepared regarding the safety precautions one must take when handling the kunai... were worthless. A dark-hared Hyuuga looked up from the desk. Not only he had been mending a child's wound, but Naruto was secretly pleased to see he was doing a damn good job at chastising his students for doing the exact opposite of what they had just learned - it wasn't hard to see many of his students were completely ignoring him. The same treatment Naruto was receiving from the instructor - the man was painfully aware of the Hokage towering above him, doing his very best to ignore it. He was positive this was some sort of test to gauge his temper, and in turn his effectiveness as a teacher.

Naruto was simply moved by the effectiveness bullshitting had, as Hokage. Hiroshi had gone above and beyond Naruto's expectations of a sucker.

Before long, the child was motioned to his seat amongst the others. The sole adult in the room stood, clearing his throat. "Sir, I'm aware that Iruka-san was more than willing to allow you to sit through classes whenever you pleased, but he hasn't taught here in years, and, ahh... well, may I ask that you warn me at least twenty-four hours in advance, before interrupting class? I hadn't even had time to let the children know you were coming by..." The man quickly ran over the statement in the back of his mind, hoping not to leave himself wide open for a scolding. Not in front of his students, it was hard enough to control them – having Uzumaki Naruto chastise him would only make things worse.
"Er, unless, perhaps there is something urgent that I must know about? Is that what this is about? If it is, then we could, uh, certainly...?"

Some of the students could be heard snickering at their Sensei's stutter, and that only encouraged Naruto. He stood taller and smiled widely. "Oh, but it is. Did I forget to tell you?"

Hyuuga Hiroshi stood silently, waiting for an explanation. It took almost a full minute before he realized Naruto was convinced he was above explaining further. It took children's laughter for him to realize the man had never planned on explaining. It was, needless to say, hard to keep his temper from flaring. "...And?"

Naruto turned his attention back to the conversation at hand, considering his answer thoroughly. He decided to do what he did best: wing it.

He made his way up to Hiroshi with a dignified step so he could speak quietly, positive his delivery would be the deciding factor in his schedule for the next hour or so. "I thought we could go outside, perhaps. I remember being in the Academy, and the speech we received from, er, the Sandaime. It was effective - no, really! It was!" Part of him was uncomfortable with referring to the late Hokage that way - in his own way, the old man had been important to Naruto... talking about him as nothing but a title felt wrong... but, it somehow only made the memory stronger. It gave him a great idea – a serious one.

Hiroshi ran a hand through his hair, nodding reluctantly. He had noticed a slight shift in his superior; it was small, but it radiated intent and determination... he was not particularly close to the Hokage, having been far too young to know Naruto as the older set had, this was the look he was more accustomed to. He knew the warrior, and the protector; nothing more. The formality was comforting. "Yessir, please take as long as you need."

The class moved outside to the open field facing the Hokage Monument. The children's restlessness was dormant to the man who stood before them. Hiroshi had taken a seat to the side, leaving the children to focus on Naruto. Despite the control he had over his audience, Naruto was so unsure of himself, it didn't take long for the children to turn their attention to other things - some of them already discussing the plans they wanted to make for after class.

This ended the moment Naruto had his words together.

"You guys are going to have a lot of hard times ahead of you – the world's taken as much as it can, and it's going to break soon. We're all going to fix it together, but I want to apologize anyway." There was a pause, and Naruto spent a few moments trying to think how he wanted to say this – how he could say this, without showing his own insecurity. He had just wanted to give these kids a confidence boost and encouragement, nothing serious – he hadn't expected anything profound to come out of his mouth.

"People made mistakes, and ours've gotten us looking at a war... even you guys feel it, right? You kids aren't stupid. It's gonna be a long and hard one, and it'll probably end up your war, in the end. You're going to have to take it from all of us – we've taken it from those before us, and it hasn't really gone away, even in peace time. I'm sorry; this war is something that we could have kept from happening."

The thing was, Naruto was lying.

He was absolutely sure that this couldn't have been avoided. Nothing in his life had happened by chance or luck; nobody was to blame, either. Those mistakes were mistakes, yes, but that changed nothing. Not really.

He could feel the Hyuuga's eyes on his back... there was no disdain; only respect, and it made Naruto feel old and wary. Tired. The same look and the same eyes as a Hyuuga he had known growing up; one that had died a few years back. It felt like it was Neji gazing at him through those eyes, rather than Hirosi.

Neji would be angry to see Naruto take back his words... to see that he had given into the idea of "fate".

He did all he could to shake off that feeling and began to speak, again. His next statement made him feel so small – so weak and powerless – like an old man begging forgiveness. "Don't be angry about it, or anything. Please don't. Just fight your hardest... Train your best, and train not just to fight, but to change this world! You kiddo's are a part of Konoha, and every single person in Konoha has the ability to fight for a peaceful world.n But we gotta fight as people, not just as Shinobi.

"Everyone says we're all born with 'The will of fire' – you guys are going to inherit that. It doesn't just mean you're stubborn bastards – means that when you fall, you're always going to stand back up, and you're always gonna be standing taller than when you fell."

Contrary to the apologetic tone he had used moments before, Naruto was speaking with an urgent, desperate authority - the children sitting before him had to understand that he was no longer explaining himself to them, nor was he begging for their understanding.

He was giving them an order. Combining his experiences, along with those of the ones he was closest to - he would expect nothing less.

"The Will that Konoha instilled in you makes it so you can take anything thrown at you... and it means you'll go a step further, and kick its ass.

"Konoha has fallen before, but we never stay down long, guys. People will fall, but there's always tomorrow. We fight for what we believe in, and I believe that's a stronger future; one without the need for Shinobi. Got it?"

Most of the children were speechless, if not indifferent. There were a few who were nodding as their Sensei smirked inwardly from behind a towering Naruto – they must have thought it would win them brownie-points if they agreed with the Hokage's ramblings – this did not mean the words carried no weight. Even Naruto knew this was the case, and began to walk away; these children were not old enough to understand.

"Naruto-Sama, you're telling us to fight our hardest, but it sounds like you don't even want us to graduate to Gen'nin! Why don't you tell us what you're actually thinking?" One of the boys had risen from amongst his classmates, staring at the Hokage's back with conviction.

Naruto turned, remotely recognizing the boy as a kid who caused some teachers a bit of grief; Saoto was a smart kid who had a lot of common sense, and a good understanding of what a shinobi should be, but the boy was still too inexperienced to see how one could be capable of human at the same time. The kid was headstrong enough to demand respect from his elders, even if he wasn't capable of getting it back.

But, the outburst didn't phase Naruto... if anything, he was glad a child would question what he was told, especially if the words could later alter the outcome of the child's very life. The old man turned around quickly, in an effort to not make eye-contact with the boy – Naruto had never been good with words, and the last thing he needed was to cause confusion and doubt amongst these kids... or worse - himself. "Once you become a Gen'nin, you will be Konoha; you will love it, protect it, and do anything to keep the people safe. I'm saying that it's up to you to decide what you'll do with your future, but whatever that is – don't look back, and don't even think of half-assing it. I'll be pissed as Hell if you do."

Groaning, Naruto stepped into his office, leaning his head onto the door as it closed. All the restlessness had disappeared instantaneously – he no longer wanted to be outside, pretending the world was at peace. It wasn't, and he would never see such a thing in his lifetime, but until the day his promise to Sasuke had been fulfilled, he would do everything he could to bring it closer. There was no doubt in his mind; he would be leaving Konoha in capable hands when the time came... so until then, he would fight his best to make peace something the kids he had just spoken to would live to see. He owed it to them.

This war had been held off longer than he'd been alive. Naruto had been more than happy to live in a world of estranged peace, but it couldn't keep – he was getting older... and, as he had told the children, it was his duty to do all he could. There were preparations to make, alliances to reform, and a whole new group of Shinobi that would have to fill the footsteps they would soon follow. It was just his place to lead them, and to take the blame that came with it

Naruto knew he would die facing Sasuke, but he had the rest of his life until that moment.

I started posting this at some point, but it's undergone some rewrites and much-needed editing - 's editor is a bit weird for me, so formatting is difficult. I'm hoping people are at least curious about how this will continue. I've never really posted a fic before, so critique/comments of any kind are appreciated. I know how to be pathetic.