_._

The Story of Us

'For those who never gave up'

Naruto x OC

Friendship, Adventure, Romance

Prologue

Sasuke sighed.

He didn't want to go up to the office right now. In fact he just wanted to go home and rest. Still, he had to hand in the report for his latest mission; so he made the trek up to the Hokage's tower.

In the time he had been back, a lot of things had changed. This was no longer the Konohagakure he had known as a child. This village had transformed; it no longer hid it's true nature in the shadows. It no longer wreaked of his brother's pain.

He supposed he had the new Hokage to thank for that.

A small smirk set on his face as he climbed his way up the tower. When he finally got to the door, his smirk fell a little as he stared at the papers in his hands. Folding them away, he glanced at the book that rested beside them. A small frown appeared on his lips; should he give it to him?

"Eh? I know you're there Sasuke!" The Hokage shouted from the other side of the door. Sasuke grunted; too late to change his mind now. Opening the door, the Uchiha walked into the large office.

"Naruto, you're as loud as ever I see. Good to know the paperwork isn't slowing you down." Sasuke smirked when he noticed the abundance of ramen bowls on the ground next to the man's desk. Naruto grinned, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah well nobody really visits me this late, well, not right now anyway." Naruto Uzumaki laughed, but Sasuke heard the kicked puppy tone behind the words.

She was always taking care of him, all of them. It was a full time job but she made it look like child's play. He supposed she had been doing it for so long that she just got used to the routine.

Naruto was still very much a child, despite him being nearly thirty. Sasuke wondered if Naruto stopped growing when...

"I just came to hand in this report," Sasuke muttered as he placed the papers down. A slight hesitation followed, but then he added. "Look if you're not busy tomorrow let's get the rookie nine back together and have lunch."

God the words burned his tongue... but if it got their Hokage out of a slump...

Naruto looked up to him with surprise. Sasuke hadn't been very social since he returned... not that he ever was... so what was with the change in attitude?

"What? Did you finally meet a girl and decided to settle down?" The teasing tone and sleazy grin enough to make Sasuke snort. He turned away from the village leader in a blatant sign of disrespect. Not that Naruto cared much; being his closest friend had some perks after all.

"Actually I wanted to do something for you since you're cooped up in here all the time," he felt like a home care worker talking to a terminally ill patient. He wasn't though, he was talking to Naruto, who was probably moping in the office because it was that time of year again. They were all moping, even Sasuke, but he wasn't about to get too sentimental this late at night. So he headed for the door and opted to sleep on his decision.

"Later, loser."

Naruto was irked by his last remark, not even as the Hokage could he get any respect, but then he looked down at the book. His words died in his throat as he stared at the cover.

'Water Marks: A Story About How A Legend Became One.'

By: Hikari Koissui.

He didn't know how long he had been staring at it; he didn't even realize he had been. Naruto stared at the book cover for hours, not daring to touch it. Then, without even realizing it, he picked it up and began to read.

All at once, the memories came back. The stories they shared, the sacrifices they made. Together, they fought some of the greatest evils. Together, they lost some of the most remarkable of friends.

Naruto read until the next morning, probably the first book he ever read through to the finish by anyone other than his master's work.

It was nearly noon when Naruto put down the book the next day; the same time that his assistant appeared. She seemed shocked to see Naruto awake as he stared at the cover of the book again.

"L-Lord Hokage! You're awake!" She stuttered. Her eyes glanced at the book he held then, a smile on her face. "Ah, so you've read it too? It's famous you know."

"Is it now...?" Naruto said slowly. He brushed a thumb over the author's name, all the feelings springing to the surface again.

"Yes it is! Hey wait..." The woman walked closer then, glancing at the book. It was unlike any she had seen in the stores. She gasped. "That's the original copy! Where did you get that?!"

The original copy? Naruto never knew that. A small smile broke out across his face as he flipped to the back of the book. A small note was written there, just for him.

'For the most Gutsy Ninja I've ever met. I love you Naruto, and I always will.'

He closed the book before his assistant could read it; his eyes looked out towards the village then. The village they had fought to protect, lived for, killed for. He smiled sadly, remembering those days.

"I may have known the author."

Hey guys! So I've been puttering with this a lot because, truthfully, I've never seen any really awesome Naruto x OC stories!

And some of you may have read this story before, but I stopped writing it some time ago because, well... Naruto was ending around the time I was writing the 7th chapter, and I decided that I needed to hold off because I wanted to know how the story ended before putting my own spin on things.

Well in a nutshell... Jesus Christ that was a lot of stuff all colliding at once.

Let me explicitly say, this is not going to go down exactly as it did in the anime/manga, because cheese and crackers I am not writing 50 chapters just on that war arc, and I think Kishimoto could've done a better job rather than piling 20 villains on top of each other and calling it an ultimate climax. The author in me is pretty disappointed.

Then Boruto came along and I realized Naruto and Hinata must never have kids.

Which is why I'm writing again.

Anyway! So I rewatched the original anime and realized there is so much i could write about in their early years, so I'm re-writing all of it... from scratch...

yeah i hate myself a little.

So yeah, enjoy! And let me also say, Naruto and Hikari ain't getting hanky panky until late teen years, so if you were hoping for that, haha no not happening. Naruto's a goofball and Hikari isn't ready for that crap yet.

Thanks for reading!

Iland Girl