She hugs everyone goodbye and tries not to fidget or show any sign of her rising nerves.

"Thanks for walking with me," Naruto says on the walk back. It's getting to be officially the end of the day, but there's still people out and about, and he has to swerve to not run into people a few times.

"Well, you're pretty much my best friend. So it's my duty. But, uh, I may also... I need to talk to you. In private. Preferably somewhere kinda-super as secure as we can find? Without leaving the village."

"That's not my apartment, then... Or the Hokage monument... There's this one weird shrine I'm pretty sure no one's watching because there's glowy stuff around it and not even bugs inside, but it was really old, and super dirty before I cleaned it up."

"Yeah, your apartment is super not the place. Is the shrine far, do we need to run?"

"It's outskirts? Like, the back outskirts, out behind the monument. Running might not hurt - and hey, didn't we want to have that race?"

Race! Finally.

"Let's do it. Lead the way."

He'll give a point they've both been to that's near-ish the shrine as an end point, then, and "Onetwothree go!"

(He's fast, but not Inuzuka fast).

Inazuma is off. Racing ahead of them with a burst of great speed.

Raizume isn't far behind. She loves running. It reminds her so much of her previous life. It's not the same, she'll never experience that feeling of running as a wolf, four legs and wind in her fur. But it's enough. Her troubles and fears and anxieties briefly fade away until it's just her and the freedom of letting go.

They don't beat Naruto by too much, at least, if you ask him.

The destination is a nice clearing by one of the little streams that eventually flow into the Naka River - there's still one of their old 'secret' forts in a particularly sturdy tree, and a deer path cuts across a shallow part of the stream.

Naruto's laughing when he arrives, not at all out of breath, and says, "Come on, the shrine's nearby - I was exploring out from here when I found it."

"This place is great. We should come out here more often."

Inazuma leaves them to go chase the deer.

"It is! I think some other kids moved into the fort, actually - we should scare them someday."

He'll lead the way to the shrine at a walk, content to just enjoy the evening woods.

She walks alongside him, not wanting to ruin this.

She's a little scared. Which... Isn't a very familiar feeling. At least not in this lifetime. It's kind of ridiculous considering the world they live in. Wars, and death and child soldiers.

It feels like they're on the edge of a cliff. She doesn't want to take another step.

But...

He doesn't mention her mood, but does catch her hand and squeeze companionably. 

They get to the shrine soon enough. It's old, wooden, and beginning to fall apart in the sheer damp that pervades Konoha - one side's sagging, and the roof's not as present as it should be. Still, there's obvious signs of someone working hard to repair it - braced beams, a few replaced boards, and the like. There's also faint glimpses of seals in the trees around it. There's an enormous Uzumaki spiral above the entrance, paint faded until there's only a few scraps of red in the cracks.

"I don't know if it keeps non-humans out, or anyone not-me out," Naruto says. "But I brought an injured squirrel in once and he couldn't get back out on his own, so it might be a good idea for me to hold your hand while crossing the barrier?"

She squeezes his hand in response.

"This is really impressive, Naruto. You made this?"

"Nope! It was here." He goes quiet a bit. "Dunno much how seals work, but - I keep thinking. Maybe someone made it, and they made it so they could get through, and anyone related could get through, and..." He laughs, awkwardly.

"I have been fixing the building though! It was way worse when I found it, I thought there's probably spirits there 'cause abandoned temple, and they're probably really angry 'cause their house's broke, but then I thought I'd be angry if someone broke my house, but mostly sad, so I told them I'd fix their house up! ...Which might be the actual reason I can get through, if the spirits like me? Anyways, there's, like, one whole working shrine in all of Konoha, so I asked the priest there what to do about an old shrine, and she told me bunches."

"The building looks great. You've done really well. With everything. No wonder they like you."

"Aw, thanks!" Hand-holding through the barrier, then - Raizume gets through just fine. "I'm hoping when we're genin I can get some more money, buy some proper supplies. Get it really nice."

"I can't wait to see it. Maybe I can paint a mural, if that's okay We could work on it together."

"That'd be great! The paint does need a bunch of updating, and you're really good at forts. It's a lot of the same stuff, building-wise?"

A beat, and, "Anyways, you wanted to talk?" he asks, voice kind of nervous.

She nods and bites her lip. Trying to find her words.

"I should -- I want to preface this by saying... you're one of the cleverest, nicest, most loyal and best people that I know. I trust you so much. I think you've already put so much good into the world and I know you're not going to ever stop. You're my best friend and I love you."

"Is? Something wrong?"