Run Forward, with Red Eyes and Roars Behind You

I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Right now, Sasuke Uchiha is trying to kill me, but I'm not panicking at all, because he can't run as fast as I can.

It all started like this: after Jiraiya recovered from his injuries, everyone set off from Tanzaku Street to return to Konoha. There were no setbacks along the way, and they made it home smoothly. It was much easier than traveling home during the Spring Festival rush.

They arrived in Konoha just after noon. Tsunade and Jiraiya went to the Hokage Office, while Sakura went home to report in.

Naruto called and learned that Kushina was away leading a mission, so he couldn't ask Hinata out either. He simply followed Sasuke home to mooch a meal.

However, when Sasuke got home, he learned from Mom that on the very day Naruto had dragged him off, his brother had actually taken leave to come home and train with him. But Itachi had found the house empty, so in the end, he could only go eat dango with Izumi.

Naruto sensed trouble and tried to sneak away on tiptoe.

As for what Mom said next—how his brother had gone on dates with Izumi many times over the past month—Sasuke didn't notice any of it.

Because his mind was filled with the fact that he had missed a whole month of frequently spending time with his brother...

Because Naruto had taken him out on missions, he had missed a whole month of frequently spending time with his brother...

Even though he had received guidance from Jiraiya, one of the Three Legendary Sannin, during that time, he had still missed a whole month of frequently spending time with his brother...

And so came the scene of Sasuke chasing Naruto down with Red Eyes.

Naruto felt guilty when he saw Sasuke like that, so Sasuke chased, and Naruto ran.

"Naruto, don't run! Stop right there!" Sasuke roared from behind him.

"I don't even have Ji Zhi Tang Jiang. Why are you chasing me?" Naruto thought. Only an idiot would stop.

"If you didn't run, would I chase you?"

"If you didn't chase me, would I run?"

"I'm going to kill you!"

"Is that really necessary!?"

The two young punks tore through Konoha's streets and alleys in a blaze of sparks and lightning, leaping across rooftop after rooftop and circling the village again and again.

Along the way, they ran into Kimimaro's Melon Head Team and Team Guy led by Guy. Perhaps the passion of those two boys had ignited the Melon Heads' fighting spirit, because Naruto vaguely heard the sounds of youth being praised. They seemed to be training with even more enthusiasm.

After three or four hours of high-speed running, Sasuke once again came to a profound realization: a normal person's endurance couldn't compare to that of a beast. His fury and stamina gradually wore away together, and he didn't even notice that another tomoe had appeared in each of his eyes.

"You... huff... you... stop..." Sasuke panted heavily, his speed clearly slowing.

"Isn't that enough?" Naruto was a little tired too, but he didn't stop. Stop? So Sasuke could beat him up? If he didn't feel a little guilty, he would have pinned Sasuke to the ground already.

So Naruto continued running forward, with Red Eyes and roars behind him.

The chase ended with Sasuke collapsing from exhaustion. Naruto carried Sasuke on his back as he took him home.

Naruto lectured Sasuke, who was exhausted like a dead dog. "What the hell were you going crazy for? It's not like I knew beforehand that Itachi would specifically take leave."

"Hmph." Sasuke knew this had started because of Naruto, but he couldn't blame him either. Naruto had meant well for him.

"Besides, there was no point chasing me. I can't exactly carry you through time and run back to the past. And you improved quite a bit over the past month too, didn't you?"

"Hmph." Sasuke knew it was pointless, but he had been holding it in and wanted to vent.

"Hmph my ass." Naruto thought, You damn tsunderes are such a pain. "You had your fun running wild, but after collapsing from exhaustion, didn't you still need me to carry you home?"

"Shut up." Sasuke turned his flushed face aside. He didn't want to admit fault to Naruto anyway.

Naruto wanted to throw him on the ground. He hadn't even carried Hinata on his back yet, and he had to carry this damn tsundere first, all sweaty and smelly.

"Itachi, Big Sister Izumi?" When Naruto carried Sasuke to the Uchiha Clan Compound, he ran into Itachi and Izumi, who were saying goodbye.

"Brother?" Sasuke struggled to get down, but he couldn't even stand steadily and still needed Naruto to support him.

"Hey, little Sasuke, little Naruto. You two are still as close as ever." Izumi greeted them with a smile.

"What happened to Sasuke?" Itachi's first concern was still his Younger Brother.

Sasuke blushed. He couldn't bring himself to explain the reason.

Naruto decided to save him some face. "Physical training. He insisted on overdoing it, and now he's exhausted."

Sasuke didn't refute him. Well, Naruto wasn't lying. Long-distance running counted as physical training, right?

"I see. Leave him to me." Itachi smiled and carried Sasuke on his back again.

Sasuke fidgeted awkwardly, but he didn't refuse.

"Okay." Naruto answered, then asked gossipily, "Were you two on a date?"

"A-a-a-a-a... a date?" Izumi's face immediately turned red. She waved her hands in panic as she explained, "We just went to eat dango together."

Itachi was very calm. His expression didn't change at all. "That's all it was."

Naruto copied the look Kushina used when interrogating Kakashi, examining the two of them back and forth. "But I heard from my godmother that you've been going out together a lot lately."

"W-we were just going the same way." Izumi grew flustered under Naruto's gaze and said her farewells. "I still have things to do. Goodbye, Itachi-kun, little Sasuke, little Naruto."

"Goodbye."

"Hmph~"

"Goodbye, Big Sister Izumi!"

You could tell who said each of those three lines just from their tones.

"Then I'm going home too. Goodbye, Itachi." Naruto was a polite kid, but he couldn't be bothered being polite to Sasuke.

"Goodbye."

Naruto turned and headed home.

Itachi carried Sasuke home as well, comforting his sulking brother as they walked. Lying on his brother's back, all of Sasuke's anger faded away.

"I'm home!" Naruto opened the front door and found far more people in the house than usual.

Tsunade had just examined Kimimaro. It looked like there was no major problem. Tsunade gave Kimimaro a few things to watch out for and told him to go to Konoha Hospital tomorrow for a minor operation.

On his way back, Naruto had mentioned Kimimaro to Tsunade and asked her to check whether he had this so-called Bloodline Disease.

He had also quietly asked whether she could remove the scars on Karin's body. After Naruto briefly told her Karin's story, a Large Pit more than ten meters wide had appeared by the roadside. Later, Jiraiya had to fill it in with Earth Style.

After Tsunade understood the situation, she immediately patted her chest and promised to leave both matters to her. Now, it seemed Tsunade had truly taken both things to heart.

Jiraiya and Minato sat on the sofa chatting, while Kakashi casually flipped through one of Jiraiya's works beside them—not the Make-Out Paradise series, but the Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja that Minato had solemnly kept.

Karin was busy in the kitchen with Kushina, while Haku helped out nearby. The atmosphere at home was as usual, and Naruto was very... wait a second!

"Haku? Why are you here?"