"Sarutobi Asuma was an extremely talented shinobi who gave his life for this village and everyone in it." Kakashi paused and took a deep breath, "He will be dearly missed" he finished and placed the white rose next to Asuma's picture.
The rest of the village formed a line to pay their respects to the fallen ninja.
Naruto was slowly making his way back to his apartment, his hands in his pockets. He sighed, Asuma sensei he thought a sad smile on his face. This was the way of the ninja; you had to sacrifice your whole life for the village, and emotions? Well they just got in the way.
"Naruto-kun!" a voice exclaimed from behind him,
"Hey Hinata-chan." He waved at her lazily, taking note of how much he had changed over time; she had grown out her hair and filled out nicely. She was wearing the black funeral clothes all shinobi wore, but it looked better on her Naruto thought.
She was blushing and pressing her fingers together.
"Ano, I was wondering if w-we could walk home," she paused slightly biting her lip "t-together?" she finished with a shrug.
So cute Naruto thought a grin already replacing his wistful expression.
"Sure." He replied.
They walked in silence; Naruto had his hands behind his head while Hinata fiddled nervously at his side. He glanced down at her and chuckled which caused her to look up into his blue eyes and immediately look back down blushing.
"A-Asuma sensei was very kind," she finally said softly "Kurenai sensei was very u-upset, she didn't even come to the funeral."
"Hmm" Naruto agreed.
"It's very sad t-that he umm" she said unable to finish, "you know t-that he d-d-"
"Died" Naruto finished for her.
He noticed how she winced slightly. An awkward silence stretched between them.
"But" Hinata suddenly said looking up at Naruto "It makes me want to work even harder to protect you!" she said without thinking. She turned bright red "and a-all my i-i-important people" she finished looking at the ground.
Naruto smiled "I want to protect you too" he said taking her hand and walking the rest of the way home.
Sakura sighed loudly.
She hadn't known Asuma sensei, but that didn't take the pain away.
Sasuke she thought, she couldn't shake the feeling that this was just the beginning and many more people were going to be sacrificed.
It was naïve to think that if Sasuke returned, shinobi wouldn't die. But she thought it anyway.
"Even if you don't love me, I just want you to come back." She whispered to the wind as a single tear made its way down her cheek.
Kiba yawned as he stood outside Kurenai's apartment; he had been standing there for a full minute.
Today it was his turn to check up on Kurenai and make sure she was eating. He remembered the day Kurenai had told him and his team that shinobi were supposed to keep their emotions inside and not let them hold you back.
He laughed bitterly.
Meanwhile inside the apartment Kurenai was seated on a table with a picture of Asuma in her hands. She didn't have any tears left to cry.
"Why did you leave me?" she asked the picture shaking it lightly.
She shook her head and slowly got up leaving the picture face down. She made her way to the apartment door; she had sensed Kiba's chakrah on the other side and was tired of seeing her students worried faces.
When she opened the door she was facing Kiba's back and he was mumbling incoherently, he suddenly turned and bumped right into his sensei.
"Ah Kurenai sensei, I didn't see you there." He said sheepishly.
When she didn't reply he went on.
"How are you today?" He inquired, he saw a flicker of sorrow in her eyes and then it was gone, he mentally cursed himself.
"I'm better." She replied. "I think we should all have a training session tomorrow."
"What!?" Kiba exclaimed not able to hide his shock, they hadn't trained with their sensei ever since news of Asuma's death.
"Training tomorrow Kiba, I hope you haven't been slacking." She said coolly with a half smile.
"No way, you'll see Kurenai sensei!" Kiba vowed.
As Kiba continued explaining all the training team 8 did and how well they had been training, Kurenai drifted off in her own thoughts, shinobi are supposed to keep their emotions in check, I'm sorry I took so long, she looked up at the sky I love you Asuma. She touched her stomach slightly, and then smiled down at Kiba.
Shiakamaru was lying on the grass smoking a cigarette. One of Asuma sensei's.
He sighed softly. It didn't even seem real. He would never beat him at shogi, or scold him for smoking, or complain to him about what a troublesome sensei he was. Asuma laughed every time Shikamaru said the word.
He herd rustling behind him and immediately tensed, but relaxed when he noticed two very familiar chakrahs.
"Ino, Chouji, what are you doing here?" he inquired with the same bored tone, although, his teammates noticed something different in it.
"We were looking for you," Ino said softly.
"Well you found me." Shikamaru stated simply, hoping they would get the hint that he wanted to be alone.
They didn't.
They slowly laid down next to him and Ino clutched his hand tightly in hers.
"The sky is really blue huh?" Chouji mumbled
"Hmm" Ino and Shikamaru murmured in unison.
At that moment they knew it was ok. Asuma had always taught them that to be a great shinobi you needed to protect something, the village, a lover, a friend something that would help you to move forward.
As the three friends stared up into the sky they knew that Asuma sensei was looking down at them and they were determined to make him proud and be the best shinobi they could be.