【Ming Zuo】Walking Alone in Darkness

"Ah, Naruto-kun." Itachi was cleaning the gate of his house when he saw two teenagers approaching from a distance, he was a little surprised, and greeted with a smile, "Are you sending Sasuke back? Thank you for taking care of me. "

Sasuke smiled slightly at Itachi: "I'm back."

Walking to the Uchiha's noisy and lively clan area, I saw my brother standing safely at home, saying "I'm back" in a flat manner.

It was something that Sasuke never dreamed of.

"Oh! Hello Brother Itachi!" Naruto also greeted happily, claiming credit very much, "I sent Sasuke back well!" The virtue of "I'm super good, praise me" is very funny, Sasuke gave him a white look , too lazy to care about him.

Although Naruto and Uchiha's family had little contact under Sasuke's intentional control, Sasuke's family liked Naruto very much.Sasuke was still a little surprised, but it's not surprising to see Naruto's character.He is cheerful and lively, and can be funny, as long as he doesn't play pranks, he can easily please the elders.

"Hey, Naruto-chan is here, my Sasuke has been taking care of you, thank you~"

Miqin came out wiping her hands on her apron, couldn't help laughing at Naruto's foolish way of asking for credit, and beckoned him in: "I'm here so early today, so I must have not eaten, right? Just stay for dinner today."

Naruto's eyes lit up immediately: "Thank you, Auntie! Then I'm welcome~!"

"Idiot." Sasuke pressed Naruto's head in disgust.

Naruto was not angry either, he rushed to the yard more enthusiastically than Sasuke, took off his shoes without even seeing him.

Mikoto's cooking skills are naturally not mentioned, and although Sasuke's cooking ability is mainly self-taught, there must be some elements of imitating his mother, so the taste is very similar to Sasuke's cooking, and Naruto is very happy to eat.

Although Fuyue was serious, he would not be cold-hearted towards a child from other people's family, and he was kind to Naruto, and Naruto was never afraid of him.Although not many times, every time Naruto stayed for dinner, he could make the Uchiha mansion more than ten percent hotter than usual.

Sasuke sometimes feels ashamed of Shikamaru, and this thing is too noisy. It seems that Shikamaru really loves him without being beaten to death every year.

But Sasuke was really tired today, and he pretended well in front of his family. After dinner, he sent Naruto to the entrance of the Uchiha Clan, chatting with him as usual.

After all, Naruto is still young, and he is incomparable with someone who has already lived for nearly 40 years. Sasuke kept his face, and he didn't find any abnormalities. It was only when Sasuke had recovered that he took him to chat for a long time. Reluctantly went back by himself.

"Be careful on the road." Sasuke instructed.

"I know! Then Sasuke should go to bed earlier, I said!"

Sasuke smiled, turned and walked home.

It was no different from usual, I chatted with my father and brother for a while, and helped my mother clean up the house before returning to the room.

Sasuke felt that his steps were a little weak, but he was not sick. He knew very well that it was the burden on his body caused by the excessive use of reincarnation eyes.This is absolutely not to be seen in the hospital. If a 12-year-old Uchiha has reincarnation eyes and is exposed, he doesn't want to think about how much trouble it will cause.

Rolled into the quilt, Sasuke put the back of his hand on his forehead, and said to himself, he really needs to take a good rest.

He was fast asleep.

Then, he had a dream.

He saw Naruto.

It wasn't the Naruto who just said goodbye to him vigorously, but the older Naruto he was most familiar with but unfamiliar.

Sasuke looked at him like this, and could hardly imagine why Naruto ended up like this.

Calm, mature, looks very responsible, but...

Not happy at all.

Sasuke felt that he had made himself into the kind of person he least wanted to be.

Naruto looks the same as when Sasuke saw him the last time, but a little more vicissitudes.Men at this age will not change much in the past few years. Sasuke was 32 years old when he died. He hadn't seen Naruto in person for 13 years. The last time Naruto sent him a picture of himself It was also five years ago, but he was not sure how old Naruto was, was he 27, 32, or 38?

The face was still the same, but the silence in the eyes became deeper and heavier each time.

Sasuke couldn't help but wonder what the point of doing this was.

He saved the world, rebuilt the village, and became the greatest Hokage, but turned "Naruto Uzumaki" into "Seventh Hokage" little by little, and polished all the unique characteristics that belonged to Naruto Uzumaki bit by bit. up.

The two looked at each other, and there was a long silence, before Naruto broke the silence first.

He bowed his head and smiled at Sasuke: "Yo, Sasuke."

Only then did Sasuke realize that he was still in his current 12-year-old body, much shorter than Naruto.

This was probably the first time in two lifetimes that he was overlooked by this guy.Sasuke couldn't help but smiled slightly, and answered him: "Yeah."

Sasuke knew that this was a dream, this Naruto was not real.He has a lot of things he wants to ask him, ask him if it is worth it, ask him what is the point of living like this now, ask him...

His forbearance, is he still sticking to it?

But he didn't say anything after all.

All these, he just needs to do it for the Naruto beside him now.

The Naruto spoke up.

He asked him, are you not tired?

Sasuke was stunned: "What?"

"Wouldn't it be tiring to take care of such an ignorant child who won't regret it until it exhausts your heart?" Naruto looked at him quietly, "I've done these things myself, so I'm the most It couldn't be clearer. When you were the best for me, I never cherished it until you left."

Sasuke was a little taken aback, had he ever been nice to Naruto?

Looking back, the memories of childhood are mixed with heavy family burdens and hatred for Itachi, as well as the feelings between companions, but he tried his best to seal them to prevent his mood from fluctuating further.And his deepest memory is when he was 16 years old, that Naruto who was chasing after him with all his strength, bruised and bruised and wanted him to turn back.

Sasuke smiled wryly.In the dream, he didn't bother to hide his true emotions.He just wanted to smile wryly, after going through so much, Naruto actually only thinks about being kind to him, which is really in line with the character of this fool.

Naruto stepped forward and hugged him.

"Sasuke." He said softly.

"Sasuke."

"Sasuke."

Sasuke was hugged by him, and the magnetic voice of an adult male kept ringing in his ears. He could hardly think, and those emotions that had been suppressed all the time seemed to burst out uncontrollably.

"Sasuke..." Naruto sighed softly, "You are tired, and you have to take care of the ignorant me...too tired. Why don't you come back to me. I already know how to cherish you and take care of you. return……"

The difference in height between the two was too big, Naruto almost knelt on the ground to hug him, the big hand of the grown man covered the back of his head, wrapping the boy in his arms.

For the first time, Sasuke felt at a loss, which one was Naruto, and which one he wanted to protect, it was up to him... how to choose?

In the six years since he was reborn, he has done a lot, and he has never regretted it, and he thinks what he did is meaningful.But now being hugged by this person, he realizes how much he has embraced this...

nostalgia.

Sasuke almost gave in.

Naruto seemed to feel his shaking, smiled, and his voice became brighter, and suddenly he became very much like the Naruto before he became Hokage: "Then I will take you back, this time you don't want to run around Yes, I have renovated Uchiha's old house and I said, if you want to-"

"Naruto."

Sasuke gently pushed him away, Naruto froze.

"I will go back to you." Sasuke said to the Naruto who was wearing a royal robe, "but now you have everything, a wife and children, the love of the villagers, a reliable partner, and an assistant." my best friend... and this Naruto, he still has nothing."

After he also gets everything that belongs to him, I can leave and I will go find you.

Sasuke smiled at him.

Naruto was a little stunned.

The smile of the 12-year-old Sasuke is a treasure that he is willing to give everything in exchange for.

However, he has long since lost it.

Lost many years ago, when he was also 12 years old.

His stupidity, let him not hold Sasuke when he was 12 years old.His stupidity, he didn't bring Sasuke back when he was 16 years old.His stupidity made him miss Sasuke when he was 17 years old.

Now he is no longer qualified to let Sasuke come back.

Naruto stood in the empty space, Sasuke had already gone back.He smiled at the nothingness.

"No." He said, "Sure enough, I still don't want to... I'm back, it's here, I'm not good enough for you."

I only hope that the other me can be worthy enough for you.

"Um……"

"What's the matter, Oshemaru-sama?" Dou hurriedly asked.

Orochimaru also felt a little strange, his illusion seemed to be inserted obliquely by another force on the way, but he couldn't find anything.He hadn't felt this inexplicable feeling for many years. Although he missed it, he became quite interested and licked his lips. "It's nothing, let's go back first, the experimental subject needs to observe more."

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru."

The Chunin Exam is approaching, and the tense atmosphere has begun to permeate among the Chunin who have already submitted their applications.Sasuke saw that the third class also submitted the application with them, and couldn't help remembering that Naruto had read to him, saying that Li told him that Neji should have taken the exam last year, and postponed it for a year for him.

Sasuke thought, Neji should go to participate by himself, otherwise he would have been a Chunin long ago, and he would not have been stunned by the sudden opening of the tail of the crane this year.

After that night, Sasuke paid attention to his consumption and took care of himself for a few days, and he is much better now.He let himself stop thinking about the dream that day, and focused all his attention on the still stupid tail of the crane in front of him.

But his own promise, he will not forget.

===========TBC============