A Moment in Time

Naruto walked along the streets, holding a camera in his hands. Tears were falling from his checks and onto his black suit. The boy next to him, also clothed in a black suit, would never admit it but he too was on the verge of crying. Behind Naruto and Sasuke walked a man with silver hair, in yet another black suit.

If someone walked passed them yesterday or the day before then they might have wondered why Konoha's number one Happy-go-Lucky ninja Naruto was wearing all black, but not today. Today, everyone wore black.

The entire rookie nine and team Gai stood in the rain, all crying either on the outside or deep within. The rookie nine was no longer referred to as that. Now it was the rookie eight. Also there was Sai, Temari, Kankuro, Gaara, Tsunade, Shinzune, all the sensei's from the Academy or the rookie eight, Gai and almost every doctor or nurse that was free from work at Konoha hospital. Sakura was there too but you couldn't really tell unless you looked at the stone in front of all the men and women crowded together in the grave yard. It read:

Here lies Haruno, Sakura

Beloved Konoichi,

Great friend,

Love like family by everyone who

Knew her,

Died a ninja's death fighting

Against Orochimaru,

We will never forget you.

A photo of her was placed atop the cold stone. It was of her, smiling a smile that could calm a wild beast into submission. As the crowds of people left, muttering their condolences to the remaining members of team 7, Naruto held his camera in the palm of is hand.

"What are you doing Naruto?" Sasuke asked. They had agreed that when they came here, they would not fight or call each other names, out of respect for their female team mate.

"When I got up this morning I remembered that we didn't take our yearly team photo… but…" Sasuke picked up the framed picture from its perch on the grave stone and held it in his hands.

"Now all we need is for someone to take the picture." Kakashi said quietly, but loud enough for both boys to hear.

"I'll d-do it." A shy voice said. The boys of team 7 turned around to see that none of team 8 had gone yet. They were still under the tree, morning the death of their friend. Naruto handed to camera to the pale girl know as Hinata Hyuuga so she could take the picture. She stared at it and flipped it over a few time, before sighing and calling Kiba over to help her. When Kiba had a hold of the camera he told Hinata that he would do it and she could look after Akamaru for him in the mean time. She agreed and walked back to the silent bug-nin with Akamaru at her heels.

"Okay, on three." Kiba said once he had the camera ready. Team 7 got into their positions.

"One" They wiped away any remaining tears.

"Two" They all looked towards the camera.

"Three" They all smiled cheerfully.

'Flash' the picture was done. They thanked Kiba, put the photo back where it belonged and left the graveyard.

"I'm going to get this film developed. Who wants a photo of their own?" asked Naruto. Both Kakashi and Sasuke raised their hands and Naruto told them he would have them at training tomorrow.

The next day he gave out the photos and they all looked at the moment that the camera had captured.

Naruto was on the left, a big fox like grin plastered on his face. Sasuke was on the right, a small smirk tugging at his lips. Behind them was Kakashi, his only visible eye creased upwards, indicating a smile. Finally, in between Naruto and Sasuke, a frame being held in the center of the picture by all three of them. In the frame was their final team mate, she was smiling beautifully and they could all agree that, considering the circumstances, it was the best they could have hoped for. However they all knew that deep down, it still wasn't enough.

It wasn't Haruno, Sakura.