Chapter Text
Sakura sits idly, staring at the gravestone of one her dearest friends. Obviously, he's dead now. Buried but not forgotten. Beside her, Sasuke glares at the grass that he's seated on because crying makes him vulnerable so being angry at the poor autotrophs is the next best option.
"It smells like ramen here." Sakura says, sniffing just the slightest bit.
"You're imagining things." Sasuke replies pulling out some grass.
Sakura bites her lip, "Ino said something about this. That I might start seeing Naruto if I miss him too much. Hallucinations and whatnot." She bends down and actually smells the cool rock that has 'Naruto Namikaze: A martyr etched into our hearts' inscribed on it.
She sits up again, scrunching her nose, "No, I'm definitely right. The stone smells like ramen. If I had to guess, Konohamaru and Kiba must've brought it yesterday when they visited. Leave it to them to spill it all here and then not even scrub out the smell!"
Sasuke is now making a nice little necklace with all the grass he's managed to rip out. "It's fine. Naruto is probably enjoying it." And his voice doesn't crack, no. Not at all. "That idiot is drooling in his creepy, wraith-like form I bet."
Sakura tries laughing but the sound is horribly forced and hollow. "Yeah. Yeah, I agree."
They sit in silence for a while. Mourning, most call it. Reminscing, some say instead.
But these two do none of that. They come here, every week since Naruto died 3 months ago and they're not grieving. They're hoping. Because even though they're adults in the eyes of their village, they're just teenagers in reality. And wishful thinking is something they're prone to do.
"He'll break through the ground and come out like a zombie. He'll eat our brains and chew our eyes. But he'll be back," sometimes, Sakura says.
Sasuke disagrees, "He'll get a second life from Kami himself and he'll come out of his coffin shouting something like 'I'll become the Hokage!' "
They don't laugh at it. They don't think they're being childish.They actually believe it. They do because that's what Naruto would tell them to do. Believe it. Yeah.
The sun sets below the horizon and Sakura relishes the momentary lightshow in the sky. It calms her. It soothes her. Sasuke's necklace is complete and he sets it next to the grave as an offering. He hopes Naruto gets a laugh out of it.
"We've got to go," Sasuke says, sighing. "Kakashi said I have the 3 am patrol for tomorrow. Will have to go to bed soon."
Sakura simply stands up, "I'll join you. It's my free day tomorrow. I won't be able to sleep anyway."
Sasuke doesn't tell her no. He wants her there with him anyway. He always wants her by his side these days. He thinks that if she's not with him, something might happen to her. Like it did to him.
"I'll get some tea." He offers.
She smiles at him, "And I'll get a salad. Tomatoes included."
He kicks some dirt, "Naruto would've gotten his horrible riceballs. Dry and spicy and already falling apart in his small bento."
Sakura chokes down a sob, "Yeah. That fool never learned how to cook properly. Kushina-san and I were going to teach him this summer-"
She doesn't get to complete her sentence because something heavy and orange lands on her coaxing an oomph from her mouth. She falls on her back, breath pushed out of her body.
"What in the world-" Sasuke says, eyes wide as he sees some kid who is definitely a shinobi with all the kunai pouches. The kid is clutching his arm that took the impact of the fall, head turned towards the ground with half his body still lying on Sakura's.
Sakura easily pushes him away and stands up, dusting herself.
The two young jounins stand awkwardly as they wait for the kid, who apparently has blond hair which they notice now that the shock has worn off.
"Ow, ow, sensei, what happ-" the kid turns around and stops his question midway when he sees Sakura and Sasuke.
He immediately tenses and looks around (he means to be subtle about it but fails horribly) for an escape route.
Sakura steps back raising her hands in a placating manner, "Calm down. Alright? We're Konoha shinobi too, just like you," she glances at the boy's forehead protector, "you're safe, okay?"
The boy with blond hair and....three whisker marks is now visibly relaxed though Sasuke can see that he's still gripping a kunai in his hand.
"Where's sensei? And my teammates?" He asks, standing up.
Sakura's breath hitches involuntarily because if not for the boy's shorter height, scrawny appearance and different hairstyle, the blond kid would be a carbon copy of her late friend Naruto.
Sasuke realises this too because his jaw tightens and he starts fidgeting with the sword on his back, something he only does when he's distressed.
"I don't know-" Sakura forces out, "were y'all on a mission?"
The presumed genin nods his head, "Yes, but this is-" he looks to the right where Konoha stretches in its entirety, visible from the hilltop, "This is Konoha. We were- I was somewhere near the border of Suna."
Before Sasuke could reply through, the boy looks at the two squinting very hard.
"Are you two...are you Sakura and Sasuke's elder siblings?"
Sakura looks slightly offended, "I'm sorry kid but you've got it wrong. I am Sakura and this is Sasuke. We don't have any younger siblings."
Sasuke agrees easily, but the kid scoffs.
"Please. Those two are my teammates. I know them well. And Sasuke is only an inch or two taller than me. Sakura is my height. Are y'all their aged-up rips offs?"
Sasuke is getting annoyed by the chatty kid so he looks towards Sakura because he's sure he'll end up kicking this genin's ass to hell if he doesn't leave them alone. Though he thinks it's odd that the kid knows their names. He supposes that they are village heroes so the blond has heard of them.
"If anything you little pipsqueak, you are the rip off of our friend Naruto. Is this the transformation technique you're using?" Sakura moves to touch the genin but he swats off her hand angrily.
"I'm not your friend."
Sakura snorts, "Ofcourse you aren't."
"Then why did you say I'm your friend?"
Sakura crosses her arms, "I said Naruto is- was my friend."
The kid copies her movement, "And I am Naruto, tall Sakura-san. And I'm not your friend."
Sasuke's face shows his confusion about this whole farce of situation and he nods slowly, "So your name is Naruto. You look like mini version our friend Naruto. You sound like him too. And you know us somehow. Huh. Weird."
The newly introduced Naruto (2.0) stomps his foot, "I don't know you two! I know Sasuke and Sakura and y'all are not them! Tell me, did the Akatsuki send y'all? That stupid Itachi did this, didn't he?"
Sasuke growls, "Don't you dare call my brother stupid you dwarfruto!"
Sakura steps in before Sasuke can pummel Naruto to the ground. She looks at him intensely,
"Something's not right. The kid shouldn't know about the Akatsuki." She whispers.
"Uh lady! Stop leaving me out of the conversation. What did you say to him?"
Sakura turns towards him with a nice smile on her face. "Nothing. Why don't we take you to the Hokage? So you can report about your mission and find out what happened huh?"
Naruto eyes the two suspiciously before sighing, "Fine. But I'm going to tell the old man about you two. Y'all are weird."
Sasuke hits him on his head, "Don't call the Hokage old. The guy's in his thirties."
Naruto looks at him and laughs, "Sure your eyes are working?"
Sakura tugs on the Uchiha's sleeve, "Let's just get moving huh?"
And so the three start towards the Kage Tower.