Kotetsu, Izumo were waiting at the gates of Konoha for Kakashi and Naruto to return. The rest of the Sasuke retrieval squad had already returned and Konoha's best medics were doing their best to keep them alive. Shikamaru, the chunin in charge of the mission, was the only to not sustain life threatening injuries. Not including Naruto, of course, since no one knew of his condition yet.

They were waiting anxiously for the pair to arrive, and were chatting nervously about it, so they nearly missed the sound of heavy footsteps of one Kakashi Hatake, who was walking towards the gates with Naruto on his back.

They immediately went to his aid, and asked about about Naruto. Kakashi's only response was looking away.

Naruto had died in the fight.

After a couple of weeks, the rest of the team was released from the hospital, and Naruto's funeral took place. Most of the civilians acted solemn, but the older ninja knew it was just an act. Nevertheless, they didn't say anything, opting to just let them be.

The ones who actually liked Naruto, the ones that he met, were there.

Everyone gave their words and their flowers, and they were about to lower his coffin into the grave.

Sakura cried over the loss of both of her teammates, and Ino comforted her. Shikamaru and Chouji mourned the loss of their good friend. Kiba was saddened by the death of his once skipping-buddy. Shino was depressed by one of the few people who were not grossed out by his bugs. Hinata borke down at the thought of the boy she loved dying and Kurenai comforted her. Neji mourned the loss of the boy who helped him see the light. Lee cried over his friend's death. Tenten mourned with her teammates. Kakashi mourned the loss of another student and looked down in shame of having failed his sensei. Iruka looked heartbroken at the loss of his surrogate brother. Teuchi and Ayame mourned the loss of their favorite customer and long time friend. Tsunade was comforted by Shizune for the loss of another precious person. Jiraiya knelt at his godson's grave and broke down in silent tears. Konohamaru wept in the grief of losing his friend. Even Gaara was there, having lost his first ever friend.

Tsunade sobbed, "Why? Why did he have to die like the others!?" Shizune rubbed her back gently, comforting her master as she cried and cursed her grandfather's necklace.

Kakashi and Jiraiya both were thinking along the lines of "I'm sorry, Minato."

The coffin reached the bottom of the hole, and slowly but surely, was buried.

Soon after that, Jiraiya carved his name into the memorial stone, since Tsunade was to emotionally unstable at the moment.

Everyone went back to grave again, and they were about to head home, when a muffled scream filled the area.

Everyone froze.

Suddenly, they looked on in fear as the ground distorted and bulged where the boy was buried. A burst of spinning blue chakra arose from the earth, sending dirt, grass and wood everywhere as Naruto jumped up frantically, yelling, "Why the hell was I buried!?"

Instantly, Jiraiya was upon him, completely ignoring his question. He shouted, "You're alive!" joyfully as the blonde calmed down.

"You mean… You thought I was… Dead?" He asked, and he got a positive response from the shocked, albeit happy, crowd.

Next they knew, Jiraiya was laid out on the ground clutching his face and Naruto retracted his fist.

"So you have absolutely no faith in me!? What the hell, Ero-Sennin!?" The blonde yelled before storming off.

Kakashi was the first to break the following silence, saying, "That's Konoha's Number One Unpredictable Ninja for you."