The End of the Journey

The End of the Journey. "...Sorry, Naruto." Satsuki stopped abruptly mid-sentence. She realized that everything she had just said—the villagers' malice, the loneliness of childhood, her question of "why every Naruto had to grow up under hatred"—had all been complaints. And she had never wanted to complain in front of Naruto.

"What I just said must have troubled you to hear, Naruto. I was only thinking about some things... things I shouldn't be worrying about on your behalf. You don't need to mind it. Just pretend I was talking to myself."

"It's okay." Naruto shook his head, his tone casual and gentle. "Those people you mentioned... to be honest, I don't really care. How they see me, how they talk about me—it stopped mattering to me a long time ago. But—"

"Satsuki is the most, most important person in this world to me. So if there's anything you're unhappy about, you don't have to keep it bottled up. You can tell me anytime."

"...Yeah. Really, what was I thinking, to worry about something like that?" Satsuki lifted her head and looked into his eyes, then sighed softly, with a hint of helplessness and self-mockery. She reached out with both hands and wrapped Naruto's hand in her palms.

"You know, before Naruto turned eighteen, all I thought was that as long as I could marry you, as long as I could fulfill that wish, I wouldn't ask for anything else. Back then, I thought that as long as I could stand by your side, nothing else mattered. What happened to the village didn't matter, how others saw me didn't matter, what had happened in the past didn't matter either. As long as I could marry you, I would be the most content person in the world."

She paused, and an extremely