Uzumaki Naruto was exhausted.

Her back felt like she'd been doing Kaka-sensei's boulder exercises for weeks and she actually had been on her feet for weeks. The damage from Akatsuki's attack had been extensive and all of the hidden villages were relying heavily on each other to recuperate their losses.

Naruto's missions had been endless, she'd get back from one and immediately embark on another, stopping only for a change of clothes and to replenish her supplies. It was enough to drain even her endless stamina and Tsunade had had to force bed rest on some of the more stubborn shinobi who were not blessed with a jinchūriki's endurance.

"Naruto," a familiar voice called, soft but indisputably authoritative and no matter how tired Naruto was, it was a voice she would always be glad to hear.

"Gaara," Naruto greeted, her lips curving into a grin. "What are you doing here? I thought your meetings with Tsunade weren't until next week?"

"We pushed them forward," Gaara's eyes narrowed as they raked over her and Naruto was suddenly very conscious of her rumpled hair and stained jumpsuit.

"You look tired."

"Ne, everyone's tired," Naruto snorted. "But I was just about to go get some ramen. You hungry?"

"Yes," Gaara said and followed Naruto as she led the way out of the Hokage tower and, not to be deterred, carried on his line of questioning.

"You are not everybody, Naruto," the Kazekage said. "Was your mission that difficult?"

"No," Naruto smiled at his fussing. Over the years Gaara had grown from a psychotic, nightmarish reminder of what she could become, to a good friend and then, eventually, he'd become something akin to a brother. Or what she imagined a brother might be like.

"It's not that my last mission was difficult," Naruto explained. "It's just that there's so much to do. I'm sure things will get better soon though. Everyone's been working so hard!"

"Yes they have," Gaara agreed. His own shinobi were similarly exhausted but Gaara knew that there was little time for rest. Even if hard-work and dedication were already Naruto's middle names, she was an asset that Tsunade had to utilise to the best of her potential. It made sense then that Naruto was so run down.

Gaara listened as Naruto kept up a steady stream of chatter as they walked through the village but he didn't miss the way people called out to Naruto in greeting and the way the populace of Konoha, ninja and civilian alike, seemed to draw strength from the sight of Naruto, cheerful and in good health despite all that she had faced. Something in Gaara lightened at such obvious proof that Naruto had gone from being the village pariah to its good luck talisman.

Ichiraku greeted Naruto with his customary enthusiasm and his smile didn't dim when it landed on Gaara. Since Suna and Konoha had joined forces against Akatsuki, the Kazekage had become a familiar face around the village and his help during the final battle against Obito and his allies had not gone unnoticed. All the hidden villages had banded together in the end and the battlefield had sparked some truly revealing partnerships. Speaking of which…

"Has there been any news on Uchiha Itachi?" Gaara asked as Naruto started on her second bowl of noodles.

The last time Gaara had seen him had been when Itachi, Sasuke and Kakashi had been facing off against Obito. Gaara himself had been aiding Naruto in her fight against Kabuto and his army of resurrected nin. When the battle was over Gaara had learnt that Itachi and Kakashi were both suffering from extremely nasty cases of chakra exhaustion along with injuries sustained in battle. Sasuke had not escaped unscathed either.

"He still hasn't regained consciousness," Naruto frowned.

Ever since Sasuke and Itachi had shown up in Konoha, spinning a tale of incredible deceit and betrayal, Naruto had been inseparable from the Uchiha's. Her friendship with Sasuke was stronger than ever but the older Uchiha's sacrifices, and the lengths he had gone to to protect his village and younger brother, had struck a chord with Naruto. Gaara could understand her empathy. If ever there was someone who knew loneliness and sacrifice it was a jinchūriki.

"Has Tsunade said anything more?" Gaara prompted when Naruto trailed off, lost in thought.

"No," Naruto's lips twitched into something only vaguely resembling a smile. "Just that she's done all she can and we need to wait for him to wake up on his own."

"And Sasuke?" Gaara asked.

Immediately Naruto's demeanour changed. She let out an unladylike snort, rolling her eyes and grinning as she recalled her friend's antics.

"Sasuke is terrorising the nurses," Naruto laughed. "He keeps trying to leave his own room to go check on Itachi. Sakura eventually ended up tying him to the bed. I've no idea why they don't just save themselves the trouble and put the two of them together."

"That would make sense," Gaara agreed. "Perhaps you should suggest it?"

"Maybe I will," Naruto smiled at her friend. "I'm actually gonna head over to the hospital now, you wanna come?"

"I have a meeting with my advisors," Gaara declined so Naruto stood and dusted herself off.

"Okay then. See you later, Gaara!" Naruto grinned and waved goodbye as she left Ichiraku's thoughts of the Uchiha's and Kakashi-sensei clouding her mind. It was only after she had disappeared from sight that Gaara realised that Naruto had left him with the bill.

~O

Naruto's smile faded as Gaara disappeared from view. The hospital staff greeted her with smiles that Naruto absentmindedly returned. Peeking into Sasuke and Kakashi's rooms she found them both awake and with Sakura and Gai respectively so she kept her visits short and quickly made her way to Itachi. Both Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei were well on the path to recovery but Itachi…there was something about Itachi's injuries that was taking an incredibly long time to heal and Naruto was worried. Itachi had sacrificed so much for Konoha, it wasn't fair if he couldn't enjoy the peace he'd worked so hard for.

Unsurprisingly, Naruto found Itachi in exactly the same position he'd been in yesterday. His hair splayed out against the pillows, his skin so pale it was almost indistinguishable from the starched sheets and his eyelashes a dark fan against his cheeks. Suppressing a sigh, Naruto sank into the chair beside Itachi's bedside and did what she'd been doing every afternoon since her first visit. She talked.

"I saw Gaara today," Naruto said. "He's grown even taller since the battle. I think he's almost the same height as Kakashi sensei now. Being Kazekage is good for him. He's a lot more talkative than he used to be. Or maybe it's just getting Shukaku's voice outta his head. I would probably have ended up just as crazy as he was if Kurama had been talking to me all this time."

Naruto sighed and let her fingers trail over Itachi's hand, allowing herself the liberty of touching when Itachi was not awake to catch her in the act.

"You have really nice hands," Naruto noted. "I know girls that would kill for fingers as elegant as yours. If you ever decided to take up the piano or something I'm sure you'd be fantastic at it."

Naruto paused and then sighed, chin dropping and shoulders slumping in a rare moment of gloominess.

"The piano," Naruto snorted. "If you were awake you'd probably think me crazy for suggesting something so ridiculous. I bet you like listening to classical music though. It's a bit slow for me but it seems like something you'd like."

Sensing the approach of a familiar chakra signature, Naruto fell silent but glanced up expectantly when she heard the door open. Sasuke slipped into the room, nodding to Naruto before taking a chair on the opposite side of the bed.

"The nurses are gonna throw a fit when they find you here," Naruto told Sasuke and smiled when he rolled his eyes.

"Like I care what they think," Sasuke replied and Naruto raised her hands in surrender.

"Fine, just don't cause a ruckus while your brother is recovering."

"It'll serve the bastard right for taking so long to wake up," Sasuke sulked and Naruto laughed out loud at the beginnings of a pout that formed on her friend's usually expressionless face. Ever since Sasuke had returned he'd been a little more...open around Team 7 and Naruto was grateful and relieved at the change. It was good to have her best friend back.

"It's not like crying all over him is gonna make Itachi recover any faster, bastard," Naruto grinned. "So you should just cheer up already."

"I am not crying!" Sasuke snapped but it was without heat. "And I know you were moping before I came in here, moron. You're the last person to talk to me about cheering up."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto crossed her arms and didn't meet Sasuke's eyes, annoyed that he could read her so well. "I'm perfectly fine."

"Hn," Sasuke snorted but otherwise remained silent. He raised an eyebrow as his gaze travelled over Naruto, taking in her rumpled clothing and messy hair. Her skin was slightly paler than normal and the beginnings of dark circles were beginning to form beneath her eyes.

Naruto flushed slightly under Sasuke's gaze and worried her bottom lip with her teeth before sighing, correctly interpreting his look as one of disbelief.

"Ne, Sasuke, I really am fine." She said. "There's just a lot of rebuilding to do."

"Hn." This time, the grunt that escaped Sasuke was one of acceptance. He may have been a missing-nin for the majority of his career but he was under no illusions as to the sheer manpower it took to recover from an attack such as the one the shinobi nations had experienced.

Naruto smiled, her lips parting in preparation for speech, when a hand clamped around her wrist and her heart stopped. In the next moment it resumed beating at treble it's usual pace and Naruto's gaze flew towards the bed to meet the fathomless eyes that haunted her dreams.

"Itachi!" Naruto stood and moved closer to the bed as Sasuke yelled for a nurse. "You're awake!"

Itachi tried to speak but all that escaped him was a moan of discomfort and Naruto immediately reached for the jug of ice chips on his bedside table and pressed one between his lips, letting the frozen water soothe dry lips and an even drier throat.

Whatever Itachi was gonna say though was lost beneath the hustle and bustle that ensued. Sakura and another nurse rushed into the room, hands already glowing and Tsunade was not far behind. Naruto tried to move out of the way but Itachi tightened his grip on her wrist and Naruto shot Sasuke a helpless look as she moved to stand near the headboard to give the medics as much room as possible. Sasuke, traitor that he was, merely smirked at her before turning his attention back to what Tsunade was saying.

"You don't seem to be suffering from anything other than chakra exhaustion," Tsunade finally proclaimed after a lengthy examination, "and a relatively mild case at that. All that time spent unconscious allowed your body to start healing pretty well."

Itachi didn't speak but he nodded to show he understood what she was saying.

"You'll have already noticed that your eyesight's improved." Tsunade didn't look up from the notes she was making as she spoke. "I recommend you not use your sharingan at all for the next month. By then your eyes should have recovered fully and we can set up regular appointments to keep it that way."

For a heartbeat there was silence and then Sasuke spoke, his voice low and containing a hint of something that sent shivers down Naruto's spine.

"What was wrong with your eyesight, Itachi?"

Itachi met his brother's gaze with little effort, his face giving away nothing as he thought about how to reply but it was Tsunade who eventually spoke.

"Itachi was going blind," she said. "It's a side effect of the mangekyō sharingan, one we'll need to treat you for as well, Sasuke."

"So…all this time…you've been nearly blind?" Sasuke's disbelief was palpable and even Naruto turned to stare at Itachi with wide eyes.

Itachi was one of the most fearsome ninja in the Elemental Nations and to think that all this time he'd been fighting blind. It was almost inconceivable. The nurses jumped when a loud thump echoed through the room and Naruto and Itachi glanced over to where Sasuke had put his fist through the wall.

"Yo! Calm down, bastard!" Naruto scolded.

Sasuke merely scowled at both her and his brother before disappearing out the window. Tsunade scoffed, Naruto rolled her eyes and Itachi didn't even blink.

"If you and Sasuke didn't look so much alike, nobody would believe you're brothers," Naruto said to Itachi. "You're like chalk and cheese."

Itachi's lips curved into a slight smirk but he didn't speak, nor did he release his hold on Naruto. Eventually even Tsunade had left and Naruto was alone with Itachi who had finally let go of her wrist.

"So," Naruto's tone was wry and she raised an eyebrow as she sat down and folded her arms across her chest. Itachi had been the furthest thing from subtle. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yes," Itachi's voice was scratchy and he swallowed another ice chip before continuing. "You gave me some of your chakra?"

Naruto froze, her heartbeat going into overdrive because she had been so certain that Itachi had been too out of it to remember that.

"Yes," she eventually admitted, lowering her lashes so she didn't have to see the expression on Itachi's face. "Kurama told me how to do it…you were dying, Itachi and I just…I couldn't not do anything!"

Tsunade had nearly ripped Naruto apart when she'd found out what she'd done because such a procedure was so dangerous that even Tsunade hesitated to perform it. Nobody could argue with the results though, for a few hours Itachi had benefitted from having the healing abilities of a jinchuriki and it was for that reason alone that his eyesight had been restored.

"Naruto," when Itachi eventually spoke his voice was low, carrying a hint of something that made Naruto raise her lashes to meet his gaze.

"Thank you," Itachi said, sincerity obvious in his obsidian eyes and Naruto was ill-equipped to hide the tentative smile that lit her face.

"Ah, it was nothing!" Naruto's laugh was a little high pitched and she hurried to cover it up. "I mean we're on the same side, right? So of course I'll do what I can to help! Think nothing of it Itachi. I have to go now, lot's to do, bye!"

Then Naruto was disappearing out of the same window Sasuke had left the room from and Itachi blinked. He didn't understand why a simple expression of gratitude would make a person like Naruto so flustered, especially since it had been months since Naruto had been uncomfortable in Itachi's presence. With a mental shrug Itachi gave it up as being one of the many quirks that made Naruto…well, Naruto.

His gaze travelled around the room, joy and wonder at finally being able to see his surroundings again welling up in him. Itachi hadn't been labelled a genius by the grace of his good looks. It was no leap in logic for him to connect his renewed eyesight with the gifted chakra of a bijū. Naruto probably didn't fully realise what a gift she'd given him but Itachi would never forget it. With this gesture, and by arguing so ferociously for him and Sasuke to be let back amongst the ranks of Konoha ninja, Uzumaki Naruto had given Itachi his life back.