Chapter Text
War is no game, Naruto quickly found out. He had known it when he was young and his first friend died in one, but he had truly understood it when he was thrust in the middle of one, his friends at his sides, facing the legend of a dead man.
He had always known that the shinobi life would forever change him but had held onto his beliefs because this was what Obito had taught him when he had been a young, scared boy asking his friend to abandon duty and just stay safe in the village. And, perhaps naively, Naruto had thought that nothing would ever have changed his steadfast friend who only saw silver linings, no matter what.
What he learnt from war was that the shinobi life spared no one, not even bumbling fools who walked through life with stars in their eyes. Through the cracks of his falling mask, Obito stared at him with nothing of the warmth that was once a given.
And still, Naruto reached out, because that’s what friends do.
Always.
He had been too young to truly remember, but he had met an elderly man once, months before his first jump to the past. He had been crying after yet another failed attempt at making friends and dejected, the boy had sat on a bench, looking from the sidelines as parents fetched their kids, laughter surrounding them while Naruto Uzumaki seemed doomed to only hear silence. He had always felt like he lived on the peripheries, just outside of reach, just far enough to be avoided but never truly forgotten.
The old man had not hesitated one second as he came to sit on the bench, sighing deeply once he was off his feet, legs creaking and spine popping. Naruto had wanted to scoot away, far too used to people wanting him out of sight. But the old man had turned his milky blue eyes towards him, narrowing them a little as if to better see him, hands crossed over his burnt orange sweat.
And then he had smiled, content.
“Everything will be better, don’t you worry kid.”
Naruto hadn’t stayed, wary of the old stranger, and had run back to the orphanage, putting the weird encounter out of mind for the longest of time. But as he sat in his new office, a white and red hat on his head as he looked over the village he had fought for, Naruto remembered and smiled, content.