Time slipped away quietly, like water through fingers. Invisible, intangible.
One moment you look up, and the flowers outside the window are blooming, dancing with the wind.
Sasuke watched the colorful scenery outside—petals falling, butterflies flitting, birds singing in the trees. His thoughts drifted far away.
Today was the day of his discharge.
Behind him, Naruto packed up Sasuke's belongings. When he finished, he noticed Sasuke staring blankly out the window. "Sasuke, let's go. Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and the others said they're coming to see you off."
Sasuke snapped back to attention. He moved to help Naruto carry things.
Naruto pushed his hand away, holding the bags high overhead. "Nah, I've got it." He flexed his arm, showing off his muscles.
Seeing how high Naruto held everything, Sasuke gave up. This guy was so tall—two full heads taller. If Naruto raised his arms that high, Sasuke would have to jump just to reach.
That would be embarrassing.
The cool Uchiha boy abandoned the attempt.
In fact, over this past month, while caring for Sasuke, Naruto hadn't slacked off on training. If anything, he'd worked even harder.
After achieving the entry level of Iron Body, he refined his ki and blood daily. A massive amount of vital essence converted to blood each day. His appetite had increased to truly eating a whole cow per day.
Fortunately, the bulls on his farm were working diligently for the prosperity of the herd.
Furthermore, with help from Shikamaru and Choji's families, the farm had sold its first batch of pigs, earning considerable money. No wonder people loved raising pigs.
Under these circumstances, Naruto didn't worry about food supplies.
But he was still poor, because roughly eighty percent of his income went straight to food.
His spiritual development depended on the System's teaching.
Right now, Naruto envied children from families like Shikamaru and Choji's. They had no worries about food or clothing, plenty of money. Meanwhile, he was just a commoner—worse, an orphan. Even his childhood living expenses had come from the village's welfare programs.
Well, envy was envy. People still had to move forward.
The two walked slowly out of the hospital. At the entrance, Iruka-sensei and several classmates stood waiting, smiles on their faces as they spotted the pair emerging.
"Iruka-sensei," both boys greeted in unison.
"Sasuke, congratulations on being discharged! Look, it's such a beautiful day. The world around you is full of life. So Sasuke, live bravely. Live out your youth!" Iruka's voice rang with encouragement.
"I understand, Iruka-sensei." Sasuke nodded earnestly. Even without the teacher's urging, he would live seriously.
After all, he still had so much to do. Revenge to take. The mastermind behind the Uchiha massacre to uncover.
"Sasuke, congratulations on getting out!" Five voices chimed together—Ino, Sakura, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Choji. They all cared about Sasuke. After all, they were classmates. Not to mention two of them had crushes on him.
Speaking of those two, Naruto had been thinking about making them his friends as well.
During the month Sasuke was hospitalized, Naruto hadn't had the time or inclination to go through his friendship process with Sakura and Ino. Now that Sasuke was discharged, it was time to put that plan on the schedule.
In a few days, maybe.
After Iruka and the student representatives saw them off for a while, Iruka took the students back to class. Sasuke and Naruto headed to Naruto's house to get settled.
"Sasuke, I noticed something." Naruto gave a mischievous smirk. "Ino and Sakura both seem to like you."
Sasuke's face immediately turned red. "What? You're seeing things."
"How could I be wrong? I'm very observant. By the way, don't you have ambitions to revive the Uchiha clan? You're the only one left now. You could pursue both of them. More people, more strength—the Uchiha clan could develop faster that way." Naruto offered this advice with complete seriousness.
"You..." Sasuke felt anger flare at Naruto's words. But after the heat passed, he couldn't find any words to refute the logic.
In the end, he had to fight back with the same tactics. "Naruto, Hinata likes you. Have you noticed?"
"Hinata likes me?"
Naruto froze in place.
"Hinata likes me?"
The idea seemed unbelievable. How could Hinata like him?
Sasuke looked at his stunned friend. For such a big guy, he could be surprisingly dense. "Think about it. Every time Hinata came to visit me in the hospital, who did she spend all her time with?"
"Isn't that obvious?"
"Hinata likes me?" Naruto continued walking, muttering under his breath. "If that's true, won't the Hyūga family be watching me from now on?"
For a moment, Naruto didn't know whether to feel happy or worried.
Before he knew it, they'd arrived home.
A wooden house with traditional Konoha architecture. A small yard. A cherry blossom tree stood in front, though it wasn't the season for blooms—still a few days before the summer solstice.
"Sasuke, welcome." Naruto opened the courtyard gate and made a welcoming gesture. "From now on, this is your home. Welcome home."
"Thank you, Naruto."
The usually stoic Uchiha boy felt his nose sting at that moment.
"Why be polite with me?"
Naruto showed Sasuke around the house, then helped him choose a spare room. From this day forward, a new member joined this household.
Three family members total.
Well, Nine-Tails counted as family too.
After getting Sasuke settled, both boys changed clothes. They were going to the Uchiha memorial to pay respects to the fallen clan.
Naruto went with Sasuke.
They walked very slowly. Though Sasuke's pain had dulled somewhat over the past month, now that he was actually going to visit his parents' and relatives' graves, it felt as fresh as yesterday.
Both wore solemn expressions.
The distance to the Uchiha compound grew shorter. For Naruto, this was his first time walking this road. Everything felt unfamiliar.
For Sasuke, he'd walked this path thousands of times. Tens of thousands. Every day before and after school. Every plant and tree seemed to stir his memories.
Happy memories that had been personally destroyed by that man named Itachi. His brother, whom he'd loved most in all the world.
Suddenly, on the road outside the Uchiha compound, Sasuke stopped out of habit.
In the past, he'd always stopped at this exact spot. Habitually raised his head. Looked at his brother Itachi standing on the streetlamp. Called out in greeting.
Now, he looked up...
His brother was gone.
The streetlamp was gone too.
Sasuke walked over to where it had stood. Only a large hole remained in the ground where the lamp post had been planted. The streetlamp had completely disappeared.