❝𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑲𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒉𝒂❞

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 29: 𝑩𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆

Several days had passed since Jiraiya's lifeless body tumbled through his student's front door. But despite the small amount of time that has slipped by, a surprising amount of things had changed. Naruto sought refuge from his sorrow and began training vigorously having yet to return home. His raw emotions fueled this self-destructive spree of training to the point of draining his massive reserves only to call upon the bijuu's power to keep him going. However, even his legendary stamina levels had to reach a breaking point. He reached that mark earlier that afternoon but instead of going home he pulled his overworked, and nearly broken, body to the place where his former mentor was laid to rest. It was there Sakura found him, out in the bitter cold rain, the man she loved on his knees weeping like a lost child.

"Oh Naruto."

She moved forward to be by his side, to comfort him, when she became aware of someone watching the same scene beside her. Turning to confront the person who was able to slip in right beside her without being detected, she was surprised to find Sasuke watching the tragic scene with a visibly painful look on his face.

"Sakura...give him a few more moments to himself...then go to him." Sasuke seemed to be remembering a very painful part of his own difficult life. A time that wasn't hard for Sakura to guess.

"Alright, Sasuke." No matter how much it hurt to see her lover like that, she knew that Sasuke was sadly experienced in such events. So instead she turned sad eyes away from the heart wrenching scene before her, seeking sanity in the cover of the forest beyond the endless headstones.

Naruto slammed his fist into the ground for the sixth time as his emotions swung back and forth in a mixture of petty rage and bottomless grief. His tears flowed without restriction yet his stomach burned with an all consuming hate that threatened to destroy his very being if there was no target soon.

"Damn it Ero-Sennin! Why!? Why did you have to leave me too?!" Another sob choked him up as he remembered the times he shared with the self-proclaimed legendary pervert. He thought it was appropriate that the weather seemed to reflect his emotions as a bolt of lightning streaked by overhead. Sorrow and rage. Rain and lightning.

"I swear..." he lost his voice as he tried to bring his rampant emotions under control. Then, as if someone flipped a switch, his face was set in an almost grim resolve. "I swear that the person who did this to you will pay." A flicker of red mixed with his ocean blues before fading away. "They will suffer as you did. They will die."

For a few moments it seemed as if time itself stopped as Naruto pulled a rubber ball from his pocket. It was small and firm, fitting into his palm with ease. He regarded the last object Jiraiya ever gave him before he placed it on the ground in front of the tombstone. He stood and turned just as Sakura approached him.

"Come on Naruto. Let's go home."