Dedicated to those who died in the attacks of 9/11

Will of Freedom Meets Will of Fire

"This City is so amazing! I've never seen such HUGE towers before," Was Naruto's words as he turned on the spot to take in the sight of New York City.

Naruto and his friends came to America, along with some of the other Jinchuriki for two reasons; one reason was that they all needed a vacation and so they came to see the sights, but the second reason was a bigger one and was why the other Jinchuriki were there. Since the Akatsuki had been on the move, trying to capture them, so after Gaara's capture and rescue, the kages had all gathered and decide that America would be a safe place for them since the akatsuki may watch them there, but they weren't stupid enough to attack there, that would only bring the whole world's attention to them. The group of travelers had run into the akatsuki multiple times while in the country, and of course they refused to try anything, though there were a few near fights because of Kisame's attitude, Madara's 'I will be the lord of everything' behavior, and Tobi's idiotic ways. They did actually act civilized at one point when they all had sat down at a café and enjoyed a good lunch, they all just sat on different sides of the café. Despite this, Naruto was actually becoming friends with Tobi, Pein, and Konan and when the groups were stuck together, he would have conversations with them over their views on things. For Tobi it would be over pranks while Pein and Konan would talk about their views on peace and how to obtain it.

At one point during the trip, Jiriaya had found them, both groups together, and warned Naruto that Sasuke was in America hunting for Naruto, intending to murder him for his highest sharingan level, the mangekyo sharingan. This made Naruto worried about this since he was still trying to help Sasuke, and if he attacked here, that would only cause him trouble he won't be able to handle. Here in New York, it would be especially suicidal for both Sasuke and the Akatsuki to attack there. Today though, Naruto had another reason for being in New York, he had gotten a pen pal back home when Jiraiya had decided that Naruto would need someone to have constant contact with so that he wouldn't go insane from dealing with just Jiraiya when there wasn't any human contact for Naruto to interact with. He was hoping to eventually run into him while exploring the city because of him being a rookie New York police officer, when he told Zack, his pen pal, that he was coming to America for vacation and New York would be one of his stops, Zack told him that he commonly patrolled the area around the twin towers so that if he was around there they would meet up eventually. While exploring the area, the only ones from his and the akatsuki that were nearby were Sakura, Sai, Konan, Pein, and Tobi. Naruto kept looking at everyone, expecting to see his pen pal, but he could only see civilians. Just as he was about to give up, a deep voice asked him, "Are you Naruto uzumaki?"

Naruto turns around to find a man that looked to be 22 in a police uniform looking at him, on his hand was a ring with the name, Zack and a sapphire in the center along with an eagle on the side. Naruto replies, "Yeah that's me. Who are you though?"

The man smiles and says, "It's me, Zack."

This causes Naruto to go wide eyed because the guy looked like he was unsure of himself as an officer. "You're Zack?"

Naruto asks the cop. The man smiles and says, "Yeah, glad I finally get to meet you, never thought I'd meet a ninja."

Naruto is surprised by this and asks, "Doesn't America have shinobi?"

Zack chuckles at this and replies, "No, ninja or shinobi as you call yourselves are basically strictly a Japanese thing, the rest of the world don't have that."

This confuses Naruto since he never knew that people outside the five elemental countries didn't have shinobi. Once Naruto got over his surprise, he started to talk to Zack about America and the people's way of life when another officer came over and said to Zack, "Hey Zack! You need to get back on patrol! You're still on the clock!"

With a sheepish smile, Zack replied, "Right, sorry about that Tom, just ran into a friend."

The other officer just shrugged and said, "Tomorrow's Tuesday and your day off, so just talk to them then."

Nodding to that, Zack turned back to Naruto and the others and said, "I'm sorry but I'm still on the clock, I'm off tomorrow and usually come here around eight in the morning, so will you guys be here or is that too early?"

Naruto just grins and replies, "No way! I get up way earlier than that!"

Zack laughs at this and comments, "Alright then, I'll have to show you guys some good hospitality and I'll have to get show you guys some of the best places to see here in New York. I'll talk to you guys later."

With that Zack went back on his patrol while Naruto and his little group went to continue exploring the city and see what other sights it held. After a while, when the group cut through a large alley, Naruto got a bad feeling and stopped, prompting the others with him to stop as well while he looked behind them to find a group of thugs behind them with pipes and bats. The middle one spoke up saying, "You care to know something? We don't take kindly to multicolored freaks being in our territory."

Naruto knew he was talking about their hair as well as Tobi and Pein because of their mask and piercings respectively as well as the fact they were foreign. As the six got ready, the thugs started to come at them but were stopped by a gunshot shooting into the air. Everyone looked to find Zack and Tom holding their guns with Tom's pointed in the air while Zack had his on the thug's ready to shoot if they went to attack either Naruto's group or them. The thugs knew as soon they had guns trained on them that they wouldn't be able to handle that, so they simply walked pass the two officers, and ignored them. After they left, Zack came over and asked them, "Are you guys ok?"

Naruto nodded and replied, "Yeah, we could have handled them ourselves but thank you for helping us. How did you know we were in trouble?"

Tom chuckles and comments, "Zack here is a regular psychic here he tends to expect things to happen."

Zack blushes at Tom's comment and replies, "Shut up Tom! What my partner here is talking about is that I get cold chills along my spine when I'm talking to someone or in certain areas. It's the reason I'm stationed around the twin towers, I've lately been getting really nasty chills around it. Our boss considers it an officer's intuition, but I think that it's just me being paranoid."

After this, Zack and Tom walk the group back to where the rest of their group is while Zack tells Naruto more about New York. Before they get far, Naruto gets to see a familiar face as he spots Sasuke with his group staring them down. Zack notices something isn't right as a chill goes down his spine, prompting him to put his hand on his holster in case something happens. After a minute passes, Sasuke is the first to speak as he says to Naruto, "I've been looking for you dobe, you're a hard person to find in this country, it would have been so much easier back home to find you back home. Now that I found you, it is time for you to die."

He immediately attacked, drawing his sword while his team got ready to attack to keep the rest of Naruto's group from attacking if they go to defend him, which they all responded. The moment the jutsus started being used, the bystanders really started panicking as they tried to get out of the way of the fighting. When Zack got a good shot at him, he shot Sasuke in the arm to get him to stop, only to get a hit to the head from Suigetsu when he hit him using the flat of his sword. As soon as police sirens started coming, Sasuke immediately had his team escape before they could get there and used smoke bombs to obscure everyone's view. Once the chaos had calmed down and the police had arrived, the police checked with Zack and Tom to get their statements and description of the attackers, they also asked Naruto and his group for their statements. Once they had everyone's statements and were sure that everyone was ok, they started their search for Sasuke while Tom and Zack continued to escort Naruto and them to the rest of their friends. Once they arrived at the Café that they were at, Naruto got hit in the head by Sakura when she and the others saw their escort. Though when Tom explained why they were with them, she apologized to Naruto and asked Tom how the police were going to handle it. Tom rubbed his head and commented, "I don't see how we can handle it, I mean, we aren't exactly trained to take on ninjas especially ones shooting off fireballs and lightning. I guess we may have to rely on the SWAT teams if we find them but I don't even that will help."

With that, Tom went back to the world trade center while he let Zack rest for a while. He gave Zack some aspirin while Zack ordered an ice pack for his head. Once he had the pack on his head. Zack said to Naruto, "You guys have it worse than we do. Though for cops like me, we usually only have to make an appearance and people will cool it or beat it, heck, most of the time we are simply dealing with drunks and breaking up the occasional fight, I can't remember the last big situation that we had to handle."

Kakashi just whistles and comments, "Sounds like America is a pretty peaceful place, I probably wouldn't mind living here."

Hearing this, Zack just gets his sheepish grin again and comments, "It's not really that simple, America may seem peaceful but it has been through a lot, we've had murders, kidnappings, and worst, terrorist attacks. I think part of my cold chills around the twin towers is from the attacks that happened like the last one where a bomb was detonated in the basement. So America still has its problem and-."

Zack is suddenly cut off when his radio comes on and Tom's voice comes through, asking for backup at the WTC. Sighing, Zack got up and said to the others, "As much as I want to let my headache go away, I have to go and take care of this. I'll talk to you tomorrow Naruto while I'm off. The first thing I'll do is show you guys the harbor, it's an amazing sight to see the ships as they sail in and out, especially the ones carrying European immigrants and tourists. See you tomorrow."

After Naruto wished Zack luck, Zack started jogging back to the WTC to help out with the fight. Suddenly a hand starts rubbing Naruto's head and he grabs it to find Konan was the one doing it just to tease him while Jiraiya just commits, "I guess I got you a powerful ally here! As abusive American civilians are to their police officers, they generally don't cause them too much trouble, and they make great help when you need someone to testify for you in a trial."

Naruto just grumble, took a drink of the water he ordered, and looked up at the world trade center. He didn't know why but he suddenly had a bad feeling about them, like something was going to happen and there would be something terrible going to befall them.

(The next day)

The group had gotten up pretty early, around eight, and was heading for the harbor to meet up with Zack. When they arrived, they found Zack leaning on a rail watching the ships as they sailed. Naruto couldn't help but to notice that the uncertainty that he seemed to have yesterday was gone and he had a calm air around him that seemed like the kind of air that people have when they are certain of something. Naruto then gets an idea and starts sneaking up on Zack, ready to play a prank on him, but at soon as he got a few feet from him, Zack startles Naruto by saying, "Don't try it Naruto. My little brother would try to pull pranks on me too, so I can expect when someone is going to try to prank me."

Naruto is just stunned because no one besides his former teacher had ever caught him before or after he would pull a prank, so for someone who didn't know about his pranks to catch him with such ease, it startled him immensely. After getting over his surprise, he looked at the water and seeing the ships for the first time, was amazed at the sheer number and variety of them. The others had joined them to see all the ships, and one thought was in their minds as they seen the ships, the thought that this was what America was all about, a land where regardless of land, everyone could come here and be treated equally and not have to suffer from oppression of any kind. The group then started toward Wall Street for Zack to show them how business in the U.S. was conducted. When they got there, they had to restrain Kakuzu as they could practically see the dollar signs in his eyes as he tried to go and find out how to get started on the stock market. As they headed for the twin towers to see what they were like, they all suddenly started to hear a loud sound. Zack looks confused as he scans the skies, "That's an airplane, but it's too close for it to be coming to the airport, so what-."

He is cut off when there is a sudden explosion and screams come from all over the city. They look to the source of the explosion and find, to their horror, the north tower had been hit by the plane they heard. After standing there, stunned for the moment, Zack is the first to break out of his stupor as his police training takes over and he rushes to the towers, followed by Naruto and Kakashi. When the three arrive, police and firefighters are already there and have started to evacuate the people in and around the towers. The three spot Tom coming towards them with a look of silent horror. "It was a 747 Zack, A passenger plane!"

Were Tom's first words to Zack as he stopped in front of them. With a look of disbelief, Zack says to Tom, "How?! There's no way they could have hit the tower if they were going down! They would have plenty of room to be able to get around it if they were going down!"

Tom just shakes his head as he replies, "I don't know, but we will have to think about it later, right now we need to get in there and help get the people out!" Zack nods and turns to Naruto and Kakashi and tells them, "You guys need to stay here, help the people get away from the towers!"

The two nod and start helping the people while the police and firefighters start climbing the tower to help anyone that can't get out. While this is going on, the rest of Naruto's group, both his actual group and the akatsuki had started to also help them with Tsunade, Sakura, and Shizune administering first aid on the injured, along with paramedics that had arrived on the scene. They lose track of time as the work goes on, only to be snapped out of it when there is an explosion and more screams, and look up to see that the south tower had been hit in the same way as the north tower. They are stunned at the sight and realize this isn't an accident, this was an actual attack! Knowing that there is the possibility of another attack, Naruto rushes into the south tower, dodging the police that try to stop him, and starts getting people out how there, about half way through his work, he decides to create a number of shadow clones and has them start helping get people out of there. After about fifty minute to an hour, Naruto is forced when he comes back outside to dispel his shadow clones and bends over as he try to catch his breath. He feels someone grab him and start pulling him away from the tower and looks to see that one of the thugs from before is trying to get him out of there while the rest of them are also helping the other people that need it. Before Naruto could thank the man for helping him, there is the sudden sound of tearing metal and collapsing rocks, causing the two to look and find that the north tower was collapsing. Before the wave of dust from the collapse can hit them, there is a blur and they are suddenly in a store, safe as the dust and smoke rolls past the windows. Naruto looks to their savior, expecting to find one of the others, but finds that it was Sasuke with a look of worry. The thug looks at Sasuke and says, "Thanks man, I don't know how you did it but you really helped us out there, thanks!"

Sasuke nods to the man, looks at Naruto, and asks him, "Are you alright dobe?"

Naruto ignores the name that Sasuke is always calling him and asks, "Why did you save us? You tried to kill me yesterday."

Sasuke's response is, "I don't intend for you to die from this mess, but I don't want to kill you here and now, there is too much going and I think I should help as well, but we have to wait for the dust to settle."

As they waited, Naruto could see people moving through the dust to find safety, with a number of them coming into the store that the three were in. Just as the dust outside was about to settle, there was a deafening rumble outside that Naruto immediately realized was the south tower coming down. Naruto didn't know what to think; here he was in the middle of what was supposed to be the greatest city in the U.S. and he and his friends were all caught in the middle of an attack that was beyond evil. Naruto thoughts were that whoever did this was beyond evil, to attack innocent people that had done nothing to deserve such cruelty. When the dust was finally settling, Naruto went cold with realization and fear, Zack had been in the north tower when he had come down the last time from the south tower. With this in mind, Naruto rushed from the store toward the remains of the towers with Sasuke following close behind. When they get to ground zero, they find that a number of other rescue workers are already there trying to find survivors. Once amongst the rubble, a firefighter doesn't say anything as he hands the two protective gloves so that they can help find people that could be alive. As they work, the others arrive and start to help anyway they can. Had anyone knew the connection between the shinobi, they would have been stunned to see them all working together as if they had never been enemies. After digging for a while, it's Sasuke who has his hand grabbed by someone beneath the rubble, still alive, the workers then began digging in that spot and manage to find three survivors. From there they continue to dig for others, but Naruto finds something as he searches the remains of the north tower, he finds a hand sticking out of the rubble, when he feels for a pulse, there isn't one, he turns to leave but stops when he sees a ring on the finger. On the ring is something that makes Naruto go cold, on it is a sapphire with the name Zack and an eagle.

(one week later)

Naruto was standing at the harbor across the water from where the towers once were, he had been silent ever since he had found Zack's hand amongst the rubble. When the rescuers dug up his body, a number of them wished they hadn't when they saw the state of the body. Naruto had been so stunned that his friend had died that way, that it took Sasuke and Hinata both to get him away from there so that he wouldn't have to see the body. After that, it took his group, the akatsuki, and Sasuke's team to keep him from tapping into the nine-tailed fox's power and trying to find the people responsible. When Osama Bin Laden had announced the Taliban's involvement and that they had done it because of considering America as infidels and that it had no right to be in their land, the whole group felt the anger that America was feeling, even Kakuzu, Pein, and Madara all wanted to hunt them down and kill them. As it was, Tsunade was considering talking to the fire daimyo for permission to find the Taliban while Jiraiya was getting ready to talk to his contacts to see if he can find them. When the president had came to New York on the 14th, Naruto and his friends were there to listen, they even when the people began chanting U.S.A after the speech, even they were chanting along with them. While Naruto didn't notice, the others were surprised to see how the people had come together in unity; even the thugs that jumped them the day before the attack were there, crying alongside Naruto and the people that were also there to mourn. Naruto also wanted to go to Zack's funeral to pay his respects, but he was torn because of how it would be the second funeral for a friend that he would go to, so he didn't know if he could take having to say good bye to him. As he stood there, crying for his friend, it was Pein, Sasuke, and Konan that came over and stood by him. Konan had hugged him while Sasuke put his hand on Naruto's shoulder to comfort him. The others soon come over and stand by them and the other mourners as they and the rest of the world stood united to mourn for the fallen and ready themselves to capture those that had done this inhuman act.

On that day, eleven years ago to date, it was one of the most appalling, yet amazing things to happen. Almost three thousand lives were lost in an attack caused by hatred, a hatred even an avenger wouldn't support with with a total of 2606 deaths, 403 of which were police officers and fire fighters. Yet the amazing thing was, in the days following the attack, it was the closes to peace unity that either America or the world had seen, with people either mourning the lost or showing their own anger to those who caused this pain and suffering. May we never forget those lives lost or the brave men and women who sacrificed themselves trying to save innocent lives.