Twelve years later; Team 7 are 27 years old. Sasuke is back in the village, sort of. A war has been fought and has ended, and things are changing. Sort of introspective and more character oriented. Also, one of my favorite chapters.

...acknowledgments to follow...thank you for reading...

Warnings: Emotional angst.

We few shall carry hope within our bloodied hands.

The young man fidgeted and tugged at the hems of his new robes: white and red with contrasting flames along the bottom. A second set, to be worn as a coat, was draped across a nearby chair. He smiled nervously at his reflection in the mirror, tugging at lengthy blond hair and rustling fabric.

He must have looked like this.

Flowers lined the walls and floors, stacked on tables and chairs, boxes and cabinets. Naruto could see them in the mirror behind him and it reminded him of when he'd first moved into his parents' house. Of the way Kakashi had insisted he must fill the house with flowers to alleviate the dust and smells of the past. A faint blush had peeked above the edge of Kakashi's mask and Naruto had decided not to ask.

These were flowers from his admirers, however. Mostly just bored civilian housewives with too much time on their hands. A large boon for Ino and her shop, no doubt. He spared a moment for Chouji, wondering how Ino was getting along without him, and then he sighed and started to remove the new clothes and set them aside. Tomorrow, he would wear them again and meet Kakashi as equals before the village, transferring leadership from one Hokage to the next. It was for show, of course…but civilians and shinobi alike enjoyed a good show.

Draping the robes over the coat on the back of the chair, Naruto sighed and slid into faded jeans and a T-shirt. It was his last day before donning the title of Hokage, and for a little while, he desperately wanted to be just plain Naruto. Smirking at the portrait of his father that hung in the entry hall, Naruto bowed slightly and stepped out into the sun.

It's really a beautiful day for ramen.

"Are you sure he's ready, Kakashi?"

Rokudaime grunted the affirmative and deftly maneuvered another bite of ramen into his mouth without showing his face. It was a habit that persisted long after the others had finally given up trying to look, after Naruto told them it was nothing special, just a few scars and who didn't have those? Kakashi chuckled as he ate, only half-listening to the conversations around him, until there was a lull and then a sudden shout of, "Hey, Naruto!"

"Sakura-chan, hi. How ya doin' today? Lee." Naruto nodded to Sakura's husband who smiled back without restraint but didn't go into one of his Gai impersonations. Naruto almost missed the gleeful declarations, and he wondered how so much could change so quickly.

It hadn't, really, he thought, taking a seat and not even needing to place an order. Ayame-san was already dishing out his favorite. Things had been slow to change, only Naruto had been slower, spending years researching and rewriting and experimenting, taking ANBU missions in between, rarely at ease to even take a meal with Iruka. While his friends had been getting married, having children, accepting genin teams, Naruto had been busy trying to save, first, Kakashi, and then Sasuke. He had become the village expert on the effects of jutsu on the inner workings of the human mind in his search to find something...a jutsu...some kind of perfect fix-all that would…

Naruto sighed and began to eat, smiling and nodding when appropriate. Hinata's pregnancy was going well, the twins would be the first of the Hyuuga to be rid of the trappings of main house and branch house. Apparently Temari and Shikamaru were coming to the ceremony in the morning and bringing the Kazekage along with them. It would be nice to see Gaara, to sit in the quiet of the Hokage's office and drink tea together and not have to speak. They never had to speak; unlike his friends. Sakura wrapped an arm around Naruto's shoulder, and asked if he thought perhaps Sasuke-kun would be well enough to come outside for the ceremony and he nearly snapped at her, calling back his own temper and that of the fox before making any response. A simple shake of his head--No.--and he was standing, having finished his bowl and lost all desire to remain. Sakura apologized, but he'd been hearing her apologies for most of his life and they were no longer effective when her method was speak first, apologize after.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, as the saying goes. He thought of Sasuke and decided it was a useless saying corrupt with false hope. If only things could have stayed the same.

"I'm sorry, I need to go. It was good, you know, seeing you guys. I can't believe it's finally happening. My dream…was always to become Hokage, and I'm so happy you're here to see it!" The conviction wasn't there. He'd lost it more than a year ago, when he finally understood that he couldn't force Kakashi to be happy and that he couldn't bring Sasuke back for real, no matter how much power or skill he possessed. What was all of it worth, the training and research, if in the end, it meant nothing? "Thanks, Ayame-chan. After all these years, still your number one customer."

He gave a small bow to the assembled group and walked off alone, first to the training grounds, and then to the memorial stone. He traced his fingers along his father's name, along the Third's, the Fifth's. Three generations of Hokage who had directly influenced his life. The Sannin were gone. Most of his father's and Kakashi's generations, as well, casualties of the war, or the peace keeping missions that followed. How can I live up to your expectations? I've always pretended, tried to believe, but how can I be compared to you?

Can someone who can't even save one of his friends become Hokage? His own words from years before. "I still don't know. Or I'm afraid I do."

He let his head rest against the stone and spent the afternoon there amongst the names of heroes who had fallen doing their duty, whispering vows to make them proud, particularly the Fourth, and to protect the village and people for which they had died.

Naruto turned another page in his book and glanced out at the weather. It wasn't raining yet, but the thunder and lightning outside the open window were impressive. He would have to close it soon, he supposed, though he wouldn't lock it. Never locked it.

He was half-way through a paragraph on using permanent genjutsu to treat mental illnesses when he felt a ripple at the edge of his senses and turned his eyes to the window just in time to see Kakashi climbing through, already pulling down his mask. A bad sign, really, as Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to talk about anything of consequence that night, but the mask's removal could only mean his sensei planned on having some kind of honest conversation.

Kakashi was stuck in the limbo somewhere between sensei and father and friend and leader. The mask was off, so he settled for friend and muttered a slightly barbed, "You left in a hurry."

Naruto countered, "You were awfully silent."

"You didn't come right home."

If Naruto could hear the worry in his sensei's voice, he chose to ignore it. Crossing his arms, he sighed. "You didn't come to the stone."

"I didn't feel like remembering. It's not time to dwell on the past when the future is closing in on us."

Eying the picture frame Kakashi was clutching in his hand, so far still turned down and away from him—Has he been holding it the whole time?—Naruto highly doubted this was something the man believed. "Hm. You shouldn't lie, Hokage-sempai." He twisted the honorific with a cool chuckle.

Shooting him a bland look that clearly stated 'you're no fun,' as if there were a larger lesson and reward to which he was building, a comment that would have finished it all with a grand finale of pseudo-wisdom…instead, Kakashi shoved the frame into Naruto's hands.

He knew the people in the photo, though he had never seen all three, four, together in one shot, and he stared down at them, a small smile forming on his lips. Holding the picture frame against his cheek, Naruto let his eyes slide closed and whispered, "Thank you," though it was nearly lost in the effort to control his voice.

More steadily a few moments later, he asked, "You really loved him, didn't you?"

Kakashi eyed his student. He hadn't been prepared to have that discussion just yet. Never intended to.

"It's okay. I've had a few years to get used to the idea since I figured it out." Naruto let his hands and the picture frame rest in his lap, wistfully gazing at the people in the photo. The roundness of the woman's belly...Kakashi hadn't needed to point out Naruto, himself. A lone drop fell on the woman's…on his mother's face, and he wiped at it with a finger, smearing wet, salty liquid around the glass. Kakashi's young cheek pressed against his mother's belly was somehow comforting.

Naruto's eyes were veiled by a fringe of shaggy blond hair that resembled almost too closely the Yondaime. "Did he know?"

"No…" Reconsidering, Kakashi muttered, "Not until..." He frowned a little; these were thoughts he usually avoided.

The blond nodded gently, understanding eyes watching his sensei. "And did he love you in return?"

Kakashi nodded slowly.

"I see." Naruto rubbed his chin, ignoring Kakashi's arched, questioning brow to ask, "And Mother?"

"He loved us both, in different ways. The four of us…were going to be a family--"

Naruto's hand on Kakashi's stopped him from saying more. "We are, sensei." He withdrew quickly, fingers twitchy and anxious, tugging at the edge of his shirt.

"What's bothering you?" The younger man was nervous, but not about the ceremony taking place the next morning. When no answer seemed forthcoming, he added, "You see?"

Naruto smiled sadly. "Sasuke."

Oh. Kakashi understood, as well. He had entertained the idea that Naruto was in love with Sasuke, on nights when he lay awake in bed wondering why he was letting the younger man work himself to death. The Uchiha was unreachable, lost to Naruto though he was right there in the village, and a familiar nausea rose and fell within the breadth of a few seconds pause.

"How is he?"

The fidgeting worsened--so very like him--Naruto's eyes set into a distant stare out of the window, toward the hospital. Toward the man being held in one of the lower level padded cells. "The same. As well as can be expected." It wasn't much consolation to either. "There are times when he knows me and he's sorry. He begs me to return him to Konoha. Sometimes he thinks he's caught in Itachi's genjutsu again and he screams and..."

A hand rested on Naruto's shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

"And then, there are days in between when…when he's just so...and we're almost… What am I doing?"

Kakashi sighed and looked away. He'd often asked himself the same over the years, going through motions and rituals that would have betrayed the true nature of his thoughts to someone with a knowing eye.

Something Jiraiya had said ten years before came to mind. They had been standing off to the side at Tsunade's funeral, quietly observing the other mourners, when his friend had uttered the words that now rose unbidden to Kakashi's lips: "Sometimes, you have to make do with whatever you can get. Nothing is certain in shinobi life, and you never know when the person you care for the most will disappear before your eyes." Naruto nodded, and the pair sat in silence. It seemed they spent more time sitting quietly together than speaking lately, but it was okay. They were comfortable with that.

Eventually, they stood and Kakashi bade Naruto goodnight and good luck and finalized their plan to meet in the morning before Kakashi's leadership was transferred to his student.

"He would have been proud of you, Naruto. Never doubt that." Kakashi wasn't sure whether he meant Minato or Sasuke.

The study window knew the feel of the last Hatake's feet better than the steps at the front door. The window had remained always open or unlocked, regardless of which blond occupied the house, one of many parallels that Kakashi simply refused to dwell on. He waved over his shoulder before pulling up his mask to cover his weary frown. He would return to Minato's office one last time, sit in Minato's chair at Minato's desk, before relinquishing it all to Minato's son.

Their son—Kushina's, Minato's, and Kakashi's.

Some part of him wished he could then return to Minato's house and slip into Minato's bed, press against the warmth of Minato's back, and just...hold him. It was on nights like this that he knew to stay far away from Naruto, though he wouldn't admit why. He could never consciously accept such pseudo-emotion and so, unconsciously, he pushed it away entirely.

Traveling through the village one final time, he saw the signs everywhere: the younger generation was no longer so young and this was no longer the village he had always known. Naruto was twenty-seven years old, a fact that often left Kakashi feeling ancient and without purpose in a world that was quickly replacing the old with the new.

It was only a matter of time before all signs of Minato--save for the monument--were wiped from the village altogether, overshadowed by the reign of his son, and then...he would only exist, truly, for one person. The warm spot amidst loneliness in what were the remains of a tired heart.

- end -

That children of a newer day might remember, and avoid our fate.

I hope it wasn't...disappointing. I knew it would be anticlimactic and bittersweet at the end. But, Kakashi followed Minato's last order after all; he lived. I'm happy with it, as a whole, so I suppose I should accept that and hope you guys like it as well.

This series was finished thanks to bimbomushi-sensei's prodding, my first beta's excellent work, Moiya's discussions and read-throughs, and Fuyu's excellent critique and advice and way of seeing what I meant, but that I wasn't quite saying it. You guys...thanks. And thanks everyone for reading it.

Finally, I'm considering a follow-up fic to cover the twelve years in between chapters 11 and 12. It would be NaruSasuNaru-centric, and shorter than HR, just 5-6 chapters, I'd guess. What do you guys think?

I do value your opinions and want to thank you all, again for reading and commenting.

vj