Chapter 4: The Journey

It started out as a feeling,

Which then grew into a hope

Which then turned into a quiet thought

Which then rew into a quiet word

And then than word grew louder and louder

Until it was a battle cry.

Regina Spector – the call

Sakura walked trough the hallways in the hospital, going trough the manuscript in her head, over and over again, she couldn't say anything wrong, she could not mess this one up. She had to be perfectly anonymous, perfectly closed up, perfectly emotionless. She could not let her tongue slip. One mistake and he could be able to see straight trough her.

Approaching the door casually, her hands hanging loosely down at her sides, trying to look relaxed, while inside her chest her heart was racing, she stared at the wooden surface in the door. She had to calm down; he could hear her heart and know that she hid something. She took a deep breath, steadily her hand reached for the door knob. The ANBU that stood guard didn't even throw a casual glance at her. They stared straight ahead, letting her flow past them, like air.

She pushed the door open and walked inside the well lit room, he sat in his bed as he always did when she came to check on him. His head was tilted, telling her that he was listening.

"Haruno Sakura?" He asked smoothly. Sakura stopped; he had a habit of knowing when she came, even though he was completely blind.

"You seem…different." He said and turned his face towards her, his glazed eyes stared straight trough her, but they were still looking into her eyes. She didn't understand it, how could he be able to do that?

"I can heal you." She said lowly, almost below a whisper, but she knew he would hear her. His hearing was magnificent, he had, unconsciously, lead chakra to his ears so that he could hear better than any human. She saw his turn his face away and bowing his head, she could never read his face, and that way, she never knew what he felt about any situation.

"but…" He murmured the word, let it roll of his lips like it was venom. He knew there was a back side to the gift she was offering; he probably knew the moment she walked inside the room, if not before she even opened the door.

"Will you disable my sharingan?" He asked.

"You'll be able to use your sharingan normally." She said.

"The mangekyo?"

"I'm sorry, but when your probation time is over, maybe you can ask the Hokage to let you have it back?" She said, knowing that Sasuke probably would give him his mangekyo back if he wanted to have any great use of the elder Uchiha.

"I see." He said and laid back down on the bed, placing his hands behind his head, closing his eyes. Sakura could only stare at his careless composure, reminding her of Kakashi, still he had an aura of caring about him. He was a strange man, she came to think and realised that he wasn't actually the monster she had imagined him to be. She still hated him for what he had done to Sasuke, but she didn't see him as an awful monster. Now she just saw him as an evil, very evil man.

"Is this an offer you would be interested in? Uchiha-san?" She asked and twined her hair between her fore finger and thumb. He didn't answer at first, but finally he sighed and opened his eyes again. He grabbed the forehead protector that he had placed on the table beside his bed and tied it in front of his eyes.

"I am weak without my sight, Haruno-san." He murmured and rose from the bed, walking around the room avoiding every obstacle.

"Is that a yes then?" Sakura asked and turned to leave.

"Yes." He murmured and sat back down on the bed. Sakura looked over her shoulder at him, he was a very pathetic man, she thought, power was all he thought about it seemed. She sighed.

"I'll be back this afternoon, we'll divide the healing process into eleven sessions, two sessions per day, and in a five days time you'll be able to see clearly and use your sharingan again." Sakura said and left the room. Again her heart raced at an unbelievable speed, how did he manage to make her so uncomfortable, by just being in the same room as her?

Hinata walked trough the streets of Konoha, everything was peaceful and people minded their own business. She held the young boy in her arms, it was his birthday soon, only four days now, his birthday, his fathers death. His large pure blue eyes stared up at her, and black hair had already started framing his beautiful face. He was the most beautiful thing in the whole world to her. He was her treasure.

She had named him Minato after his grandfather; Naruto would've wanted that, Hinata believed he would've wanted that.

She walked slowly trough the village, showing Minato all the wonderful and beautiful things that the village consisted of, the village Naruto had held so dearly to his heart.

People showed her kindness whenever she walked into their shops; they bowed to her and her son, but it wasn't really to them they showed respect, it was to her dead husband. He was the man they had all gone from hating to loving, proving how thin the line between love and hate truly was. When he had died, they had all come in his funeral, the funeral without a body to bury. Naruto had been on the covers of every newspaper in the fire country. Everyone knew of the loud mouthed, powerful ninja he had been. In Suna they had held a festival in memory of Naruto, the one who saved their Kazekage.

Hinata ended her stroll by the memorial stone; she had been there more and more these last few days, knowing that his one year anniversary was drawing closer by each minute. It was of course not only Narutos anniversary, it was a day all of Konoha would grieve their dead, which suffered in the gruesome war one year ago.

Hinata stroked his name on the stone; it was neatly chiselled into the hard surface.

She looked up at the sun and swore under her breath, she was late for guard duty by Itachis room. As an ANBU she had been assigned to guard the deadly Uchiha. She ran with Minato sleeping soundly in her arms.

When she was about to open the door into her house, a memory shoot into her mind, a memory that was not her own.

"We've come to roads end it seems, Furball." A voice said, it belonged to a bloody blonde man, he had sky blue eyes that looked up at something large. A huge demon came into view, it was a fox, with nine tails swirling around him. He laid down beside the blonde man who had fallen to his knees now.

"I won't let you die so easily Kit, I'll keep you alive until my own chakra dies away." The demon said and picked the blonde man up with his teeth, gently. The demon walked away, towards sharp mountains where smoke came up from the top of one of the mountains.

Hinata gasped and had to support herself towards the door when she came to agan, and tried to regain her steady breathing. She had seen Narutos last memory, his last memory, and he hadn't been dead. Could he still be alive? No, of course not, if he had been alive he would've come back to Konoha.

Wouldn't he?

"Where am I?" He asked Kyuubi, his voice rasped at the inside of his throat like sand paper and he grimaced. A snort came from the demon he knew was there with him, like a guardian angel.

"You're where I was born." Kyuubi answered, it was the truth it seemed. He put his hands on the ground underneath him, and found that it was stone, but it wasn't cold, actually, it was almost too warm. His hands left the ground, and he lifted them up to his face, he had no scars there. He felt his hair, it had grown longer it seemed, he dragged long thin fingers trough his thick hair and let it fall over to one side, so that it covered one of his eyes. His hands travelled next down his own body, and felt his own ribs, other than that he seemed not to have lost too much weight.

"I brought you new clothes and a cloak. I guess you want to get going as soon as possible?" Kyuubi asked. He closed his eyes as they were useless anyway and rose unsteadily from the floor, he took one step before he collapsed to the ground again. He had no strength in his feet.

"Your muscles will have to be trained up again, it's only normal, after one year in mnbn

"Put these on, I'll carry you back to Konoha, but not if you're naked." Kyuubi said, Naruto accepted the fabrics. He felt it and tried to figure out what it was. Finally he realised that it was a yukata, and he silently thanked the Kyuubi for not bringing him something too complicated to wear. A pair of clean boxers had also been brought. The cloak was made of a soft fabric that felt nice against his fingers. He threw it around his shoulders, still sitting on the ground.

"Thank you, Kyuubi, I would've been dead if it hadn't been for you." Naruto murmured silently.

"If it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't have taken such a risk Kit." Kyuubi said and Naruto tried to smile, but his lips were sore and instead he nodded. Naruto unsteadily rose from the ground again, managing to stand, barely.

One of Kyuubis tails pushed on his back while two other tails held him upright, and Naruto walked forwards.

"I have reduced my size to a tenth of my original size, I guess it'll be easier for you to stay on my back this way." Kyuubi said, and Naruto reached out in front of himself, feeling the top of Kyuubis back, and he realised that even though Kyuubi was a lot smaller now, he still hovered about two and a half metres above the ground at the top of his back.

The two tails that held Naruto and kept him from collapsing, easily lifted him off the ground and placed him on top of Kyuubis back. He leant forward and grabbed the longer hair around Kyuubis neck, knowing that when Kyuubi ran, he ran fast.

Narutos mind was blank, normally he would've asked thousands of questions about what happened to the others, how Kyuubi had managed to keep him alive all this time, why he was blind, if had gotten a son or a daughter, and how Hinata was doing. But he didn't feel anything at all, except an aching feeling, a longing to see his wife again, to feel her skin, smell her hair, kiss her, at the moment that was all he wanted to do. Everything else came second; all that mattered was to see his wives' happy smile when she saw him again.

Sakura concentrated all her energy on making Itachis eyes heal. After one day and two tiresome sessions she went to sleep right away in her apartment. But even in her dreams, she did not get to rest her tired mind. She dreamt of red blazing eyes, which faded into grey. She dreamt of Kakashi, and him turning his back on her. She tried to reach out after him, but when he turned back and smiled at her, he was no longer Kakashi. His face had changed and he now had long black hair, and red glowing eyes. He had turned into the man she hated. Uchiha Itachi.

"Sakura?" His low smooth voice dragged her out of her thoughts. She had dozed off in the middle of a session again. His now black eyes peered at her. She had been having so much trouble sleeping, and she had a tendency to try and analyze her dreams while trying to heal Itachis eyes.

"What's on your mind?" He asked suddenly. She stared into his face, not really understanding why he asked her that. It was almost as if he wanted to know her. She shrugged that feeling off her shoulders and 'hmm'-ed.

"I was wondering what I'm going to make for dinner." She said and concentrated on his eyes again. He could soon see clearly, but only use his regular vision. It would be much more difficult to heal his sharingan. It was such a complex situation, and he had worn it completely down, so she would have to rebuild it from scratch.

Itachi kept silent all trough the rest of the session, and when Sakura withdrew her chakra from his eyes and let herself relax somewhat, he stared at her with completely healed vision. The colour of his eyes was an amazing dark ebony colour, he seemed so…trustable.

"I never imagined that this is what you look like." He murmured, and tilted his head to one side. Sakuras eyes snapped up to meet his.

"Disappointed?" She asked sarcastically and started gathering her medical supplies. She heard him chuckle lightly and froze.

"No, I'm rather surprised. I never imagined you to look so…young." He said. Sakura glared at him.

"I am only twenty years old after all." She said sharply and turned away from him.

He ignored her comment and moved his gaze from her face to the window.

"It has been quite some time since I could see contours this clearly." He murmured silently and held his hand up in front of him.

"It's quite magnificent." Sakura took her bag and walked towards the door.

"Same place, at nine o'clock tomorrow." She said shortly before she was out the door.

She didn't go home, it was so lonely there. So instead she went for a short walk in the park to clear her mind. Halfway to the park though, she met a lovely sight.

It was Ino holding hands with Kotetsu, they seemed happily in love. Sakura just hoped it would last longer than Inos previous relationships, but she also knew that Kotetsu was not like her former boyfriends.

Walking on, she passed Ichiraku Ramen and felt that all too familiar lump in her throat. She stopped and watched Ichiraku and his daughter, Ayame, laugh together. On pure impulse, Sakura sat down and ordered a portion of naruto flavoured ramen.

Someone sat down beside her and ordered the same. It was Kakashi.

She didn't acknowledge his presence, but at the same time she could not deny herself noticing his strong personality. It always hung like a coat around him, a strong mysterious coat. Still, she noticed that it did not have that same effect on her as it used to have. Now he was just a man, a strong man, but still just a man. Itachi as well, was just a man…or was he? He was…and had always been just a man, like Sasuke and Kakashi were just men. Then she thought of Naruto, he had never been just a boy, or just a man. He was never only "just…", he had always been something more.

Strange thing though, that the only one that was something more than just a man, had sacrificed himself for just a village. Many men had died during the war, but they had all been just men, and no one could blame them for being only that. Naruto had, though knowing that he would never return, launched himself at Orochimaru with every cell in his body. All the fury he could muster, and even more. Naruto had, well knowing that by doing what he did, would destroy his body, charged, only to save just men.

"I'm glad you're here." She suddenly said to Kakashi. He glanced sideways at her, waiting more maybe, but that was all she wanted to say.

"I'm glad you feel that way." He said. Sakura smiled vaguely.

"I'm healing Uchiha Itachis eyes." She said and stared down at her ramen.

"I've heard." He murmured, obviously not too pleased about the news.

"He's actually not all that bad, and that angers me. It makes it so hard to hate him." Sakura said and huffed. Kakashi turned towards her and tilted his head to one side.

"Sasuke told me about Itachis' reasons for doing what he did all those years ago. And truth be told, I kind of already knew. The superiors at that time feared the Uchihas growing strength and power. If you should hate someone Sakura, hate the sender of the message, instead of the messenger." Kakashi said. Sakura stared at him, not quite comprehending what he was saying.

"Uchiha Itachi loved Konoha, and Konoha used that against him…and his clan. He did not slay his clan for his own sake; he did it, because he was ordered to." Sakura gasped.

"So what you're saying is…that he never even was a traitor at all, he was the quite opposite. But why would you assume he joined the Akatsuki then?" She asked, pondering if he was not the evil man she had made him out to be in her head.

"You should ask him that, I don't have all the answers you know." Kakashi said and smiled. Sakura nodded.

"You're probably right, and who knows, he might even give me an answer, right?" She said with a hint of sarcasm.

Kakashi smiled.

Everything was darkness, he knew he was holding his hand up in front of him, and he was sure that his eyes were open, but he could not see his fingers making a fist.

A week had already passed since that day he woke up. Kyuubi had helped him to start train his muscles again. It went quickly, much faster than it would have done for a normal human, but he was no normal human.

"Why can't I see?" He asked his comrade. Kyuubi chuckled beside him.

"You can see Kit, it's just so dark that human eyes can't make out even the largest of mountains. We are a place where the sun never could've survived." Kyuubi said. Naruto didn't ask any further, as it was time to get going again. They only had few breaks, and whenever they had these short breaks, Naruto would train his muscles. Soon he could walk, shortly after he could run and jump. Then he began working on his chakra control again, it was hard, but at the same time easy. He was not his strongest self, but he was probably stronger than most chuunin already, and that only after three weeks. He was making quick progress, but their journey seemed endless.

The two of them never spoke much, Naruto thought mostly about his beautiful wife, of his child. He was nervous about what she would say when he finally stood before her, would she be angry that he had taken so long?

"Now you should be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel." Kyuubi said finally one day. And quite right, a small white point in could be seen right in front of Naruto. Still the two of them had to travel another two weeks to walk into the light.

Finally he could see, and finally he could breathe the fresh air he had longed for.

Kyuubi sat down beside him and stared out over the large ocean that stretched from horizon to horizon. He sighed.

"The rest of this journey you will have to make on your own. Across this ocean lies the country of water. You will know the way to Konoha from there. Just walk straight ahead." And by that the great demon king disappeared into nothing, and Naruto could feel his strengthening chakra inside him.

He stared ahead and without further hesitation, he ran on chakra filled feet over the water.

Hinata had just put her little one to sleep. She looked down at him with loving eyes.

"You are so much alike your father dearest Minato, and your grandfather. I know you'll live up to your name." She whispered and stroked the boys blonde hair.

She closed off the light and walked out. The large house seemed empty when Neji weren't around much anymore. He supposedly had an important mission to attend to. Hinata sighed and decided for a walk to get her mind off…everything.

She walked trough the crowded streets of Konoha. Konoha ha indeed a joyful nightlife. Several kinds of bars were open, and she met many of her late comrades.

Tenten came up to her together with a tall handsome man whom Hinata had never seen before.

"Hello Hinata-sama, long time no see. Meet my fiancé, you remember Sai right?" Hinatas eyes widened. Sai? The Sasuke replacement so many years ago on team 7? He was totally changed, his eyes were warm and welcoming and he had grown his hair longer. He was absolutely stunning.

"Of course I remember Sai. I'm sorry I didn't recognise you. So you are engaged? Congratulations." Hinata said and bowed gracefully. Tenten grinned and bowed back.

"It is okay Hyuuga-sama, I have changed. But I must say, so have you. You have become a very beautiful woman." Sai said and bowed to her as well. Hinata smiled.

"Thank you for your kind words, but I have to be off now, we'll have to meet up and talk sometime Tenten-san." Hinata offered.

"That would be great Hinata-sama, I hope it will be soon." Tenten answered. They bid their farewells and went each their way.

Hinata despised the formality everyone treated her with after she had married Naruto, but she had learnt to overlook it as no matter how many times she tried to tell everyone not to be so formal, they would just be formal anyway.

She continued her walk down the street, she took a smaller street a little further away from the centre of the village and headed towards the guard post to see if Shikamaru was guard today as well. She wanted someone to talk to, and he would probably know what to say about all her dreams and visions she had been having lately.

Though just as she passed by the clearing where the memorial stone was, she could see a shadow leaning towards the stone, supporting its forehead on the cold surface and its hands tracing the names written on it.

Hinata stopped and peered at the stranger trough the trees. She couldn't make out any features, but she believed it to be a man. Suddenly he turned around and stared right at her. Shocked she took a step back and gasped.

"You…"

I have been gone for some time, and I apologise for that. I have not been in the right naruto mood, but it's summer vacation, the sun is not shining and i'm

mostly sitting inside, so i've got plenty of time to write for you guys.