Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters associated with the franchise. This story is just one that has been in my head and should there be someone else with a similar one I apologize but this story is in no way an imitation, or alteration, of another one.

It was almost over. They were so close to the end. All they had to do was extend their hands and finish the sealing of Kaguya. But alas, it was not meant to be that way. Her reflexes outmatched those of Team 7and what was supposed to be the end of the draded war soon turned to their own. As she jumped out of the reach of Naruto and Sasuke's hands she threw three chackra rods meant for each of their hearts. It was no problem for the hosts of the Rikuodu Sennin's abilities, but Sakura was not so lucky. She could do nothing but stare in horror as the rod got closer, and closer. Time seemed to be slowing down. Naruto turned around and his mouth was open agape, as if he were screaming her name, but the words could not reach her ears. As she turned to look at Sasuke for the last time she saw something that she had thought impossible long ago. She saw fear. His cold ebony gaze was broken. He slowly opened his mouth while extending his arms.

"SAAAKURAAAAA!" that she did hear. She only closed her eyes waiting for the pain and coldness of death. But it never came. Instead of hearing steel ripping through flesh she heard the whisper of the wind. And then... a loud thud. It was not her who had fallen, it was not Naruto either.

"Oh... Please no...". With fear she opened her eyes to confirm her doubt.

"SAASUKEEEE!" He was laying in the ground in a crimson pool. His once fierce stare was weakening and from his mouth a thin stream of blood ran freely. His white kimono was now red with the blood he shed... for hadn't been a second since she had touched the ground with her toes and she was already keeling by his side. A single tear fell of her cheek and landed on him.

"Why? Why do that for me?" She started sobbing through the words but her demeanor changed all too soon. "The obnoxious girl that you always looked down! Why! God damn it you hated me! Why do something as stupid as that when the world needed you? When Naruto and Kakashi-sensei needed you! I... need you..." Once again her head was lowered, but this time her tears ran freely. Loud sobs filled the once calm air.

"SASUKE!" Was all Kakashi could muster. He was laying in the ground, one hand keeping his balance, the other griping the ground.

"... Sasuke..." Naruto was looking at the ground and would have started crying if it were not for three words that he had never expected to hear.

"I... am sorry..." His voice was weak and as soon as he talked he started coughing blood. Sakura looked up hopeful, yet afraid. "I ...n-never meant... to cause y-yo-you... of all people... pain..." Sakura was speechless and did nothing but listened in complete shock to the words being spoken by the raven boy, who , despite everything that had happened, all of their fights and killing attempts, despite every ounce of the tons of suffering he had caused, she still loved. She still loved him. Sasuke Uchiha, the man now lying in front of her.

"Why?" it was a simple question, whispered with pain."Why would you save me?" He was silent for a few seconds until... he smiled. It was not unlike the proud smirks that they were all used to, this smile was sincere.

"When I... was coming here... I made a stop in... Konohagakure..." The whole world was quiet as he spoke, even Kaguya was silent, wondering why someone with such raw power, would sacrifice himself for the likes of her.

"I had to... talk to the Hokages... ask them... about being a shinobi... They were all talking... About sacrifices... But then Tobirama... he said something..." His words stopped, for he suddenly coughed even more, blood now ran freely through his nose as well.

"He initially said that... My people... The Uchihas... Were heartless... He said that... We were willing... To kill someone... Precious to us... If it meant that we... Got stronger..." His gaze shifted from his teammate to the sky, now dark and still, as if the heavens were waiting for him to speak.

"But then he... Said that... Despite all of these... Claims, he respected... My people... And in some ways... He loved them..." Everyone was shocked at his words, every citizen in Konoha knew that their Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, was quite known for having deep hatred towards the Uchihas for supposedly tainting his brother's dream.

"He said that he... Had initially thought... That we held... No feelings like... Love or friendship... But he soon rea...lized that we... Of e-everyone he... Knew... We loved the most..." Now his black eyes stared into green ones. His hand slowly reached out to caress her cheek. Blood dripped on her clother but she didn't mind. She raised her hand to meet his. /span/p

"My people... Held the most regard for... Love... We loved s-so... Much that... Loosing our precious... People... Awakened furious strength... " Sakura could only look at him in awe, they were both standing still, neither one moving a single inch.

"Sakura Haruno... Even if at first... I hated you... I know now that...I-I lo- lov-" She gasped but was quickly shut when his lips crashed into hers. She could taste his blood and immediately realized what was going on. But when she was about to kiss him back, he fell back down. This time he released a final, long breath with one final thing to say.

"I... Love... You..." with that his head hit the earth. The dry sound it of his fall echoed through the battlefield.

"Huh? S-Sasuke?" she griped his collared and lifted him up to meet her face, but his eyes did not open. "Sasuke! You do not get to do this. You cannot just say you love me and then just, just leave! I love you, damn it, I LOVE YOU! Wake up, don't leave me! SASUKEEE!" The screams she released into the air pierced the heart of Naruto, and in the middle of their grieving a single laugh was heard.

"Love, what a petty feeling." Naruto was the only one who stood up to meet Kaguya. "Love is what brought this war in the first place, was it not? The love of power. Now you see, boy, you have brought this upon yourself. Your friend was the only one capable of helping you defeat me, now whatever shall you do?" her laugh was maniacal, resonating through his head as a hammer, giving him blow after blow.

"He is not your joke..." at the mention of these words she stopped her laughter and looked sternly straight at him.

"He was a fool! Who would do something so stupid as to throw themselves in the middle of an incoming attack! It is just pathetic!" She looked as she was about to laugh again but this time is was Naruto who raised his voice.

"I will tell you who, a hero. Someone who truly wants to end a fight and not just win it." She looked truly puzzled, but quickly retaliated with her own answer.

"By now you should realize that peace is impossible! Man has natural need to fight. THIS! That i have given you, the eternal sleep of the tsukoyomi is peace. All will have their dreams come true. What is the difference?"

"I will tell you the difference!" This time even Kakashi and Sakura turned to look at him.

"People have the right to choose for themselves. You can't just put them to sleep. NO. That is not how it is done. You don't just force happiness onto someone. You have to let them find it." This time Sakura stood by his side ready to speak as well./

"Some might get lost in the way," she looked back at Sasuke."But in the end all you can, and have, to do is believe in them and give them a reason to return." Kakashi now joined his former pupils.

"Believing yourself to be better than someone is not how you prevent fights," his thoughts drifted back to his friend Obito, and to his own young self. "Most times it is that belief that causes them!"

"We are all the same, we all have something to hope for! And now instead of ending the conflicts you so despised, you have caused the biggest one yet." Kaguya was now at a loss of words. The only thing she did was stare at them while she was slowly floating back to the ground.

"You killed my friend, my brother! And if this keeps on you will kill every single person on the planet as well!" Now instead of determination his words carried anger.

"Is this what you wanted?! To become one of the MONSTERS you wanted to destroy?! Then congratulations! Mission accomplished." His whole body relaxed as he took a deep breath.

"I can't let you continue on like this, i cannot let you take more lives than the ones you already have." He started to walk towards Kaguya. She only raised her stare to meet his.

"Even if i have to fight you a thousand times, I will stop you. I can't give up. Because that is my nindo." Kaguya suddenly stood up and held Naruto up by the throat, but instead of fear or frustration he showed calmness.

"Who are YOU to tell me what is right?" A small smirk appeared on his face as he was about to answer.

"I am a simple shinobi." Kaguya face suddenly grew angry, she threw him across the field, crushing gigantic rocks that were in its trajectory.

"Naruto!" Sakura and Kakashi tried to go to him but were pinned two the ground by chackra rods.

"WHY do you insist to keep fighting? It's over. Your friend is dead, you cannot seal me anymore." Naruto stood up with a little discomfort and brushed the dirt of.

"That it is impossible to win, does not mean that I should stop trying, it is the more reason to keep going." He started to walk towards her. "To prove to you that you were wrong." She gnarled at his words and rushed forward with the intentions to end his life. But then a giant tree branch slammed her away. When she regained her footing she saw the reincarnated hokage with someone else she recognized.

"Hagoromo. It has been a while." The sage's face did not change in presence of his mother.

"Mother, once again I am forced to stop you." Kaguya laughed maniacally before answering him.

"You are nothing more than a shadow of your former self. How can you possibly expect to defeat me?"The Rikoudu Sennin shook his head in disapproval.

"I am not your oponent. He is." His hand pointed out to Naruto.

"Successor of Ashura, I will bestow upon you one final gift, i will grant you the whole amount of my powers, you will have 5 minutes, do not fail us. Hokages you know what to do."

"Hai!" All responded in unison and formed a circle around Naruto and the sage. They started performing several hand seals faster than the eye could follow. The grounds suddenly started to glow a bright purple. The sage raised his staff and suddenly encrusted it in the grown. His entire body was being sapped into the staff which then floated over to Naruto. When he touched it he felt pain. More than any he had ever felt in his life, but then he felt revitalized. Through his hands ran the chackra of the ancestor of the shinobi. When he looked back at the hokages they were starting to disappear as well. The last one was his own father.

"Dad!" Naruto tried to go to him but he lifted his arm, signaling him to stop.

"Don't worry about me, Naruto. I will be fine, your mother is waiting. Just promise me that you will always do the right thing. No matter what." He smiled at his son before being completely vanished from the realm of the living.

"You bet I will!" Naruto turned around towards Kaguya, looking sternly at her.

"It is you against me now. No more bullshit." Kaguya furiously charged towards him again. But this time he stopped her dead on her tracks with the staff. One more swing and she was sent flying back, landing roughly on a crater.

"No! Impossible," she started to scream and frenetically tried to hit, kick, and even scratch Naruto, but it was to no avail. He was now stronger. She jumped back to think about the situation and suddenly started to smirk. "No matter, you only have a couple of minutes left, what will you when your time runs out?"

"I will simply have to make the most out of what i currently have." This answer puzzled her but it was soon clear what he meant to do when she felt the edge of the staff on her head. Within minutes she felt her strength being sucked out of her and being stored on the staff. She started to feel cold, she knew that death was not far away, but before it came the staff was removed from her head and instead Naruto chose to throw it towards the juubi. This beast in return released a monstrous roar before being impaled by the staff. With the first touch the whole beast exploded in a giant beam of light. From it rose nine different colored spheres of light. Each of these entities spread across the horizon, one resting within Naruto. Kaguya fell to the ground in defeat and denial.

"Impossible, HOW! How did you do that!" Then the circumstances of the situation hit her. Before her was a man who was now far stronger than her because most of her strength had been removed. She was weaponless and most of all, she was now mortal.

"Who are you?" Her face showed fear while his showed courage.

"I am an orphan, whose parents died protecting their home." He started to walk forward but she stepped back.

"I am the student of two pervs whose knowledge far surpassed my own. I am the future Sixth Hokage. I am the successor of Ashura. I am the one who will stop you but most of all..." Kaguya had fallen down on a small rock and lifted her arms, bracing herself for a punch, but instead she found a hand. Stretched out to help her.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto." What she saw next left her breathless. He smiled at her. This time instead of slapping the hand away she took it. When she was up and about she started to walk towards the Juubi. She held out her hand and with powerful growls the giant beast started to shine brighter than any star, and its size was slowly reduced to nothing then from her palm rose 9 shining spheres of light, one of which found its way to Naruto's heart, the other eight disappeared on the horizon. Then she levitated high above them and spoke.

"The crimes of men I once thought unforgivable. I was so convinced of other's wickedness that I was blinded of my own." She looked down at Naruto. "My own sons were forced to kill me so that the world could rest in peace. I spent the decades of my life trying to achieve peace and in that time my mind was tainted with hatred and my eyes blinded by revenge. Who would have thought that I would be snapped to my senses by a mere foolish boy?" She started to form some hand seals that were all too familiar to Naruto.

"Wait... What are you doing?" He started to walk towards her but stopped when he saw that she was now far to high in the sky.

"I am redeeming my mistakes or at least some of them," she closed her eyes and her hands stood still as she finished her jutsu. "Gedo: Rinne Tensei no Jutsu!" Naruto knew that the jutsu how Nagato had done it would not kill her, but instead of a normal sized King of Hell a massive head emerged from the earth. It was at least as large as a bijuu. When its mouth opened the whole ground shaked forcing the remaining members of team 7 to the ground. And then a monsoon of green energy flew past them, rushing towards their lost hosts. And when they turned to look at the tree, the couldn't believe it. The giant structure was now withering as if it were a small flower in the winter. All of those who had been afflicted by its influence soon came back to their senses. And those who had been lost to the heavens were back.

"Neji..." it was but a whisper and before anyone could ask him what he had said he was running off towards the direction of his lots friend./span/p

"Sasuke?" Sakura was looking hopeful down at him but he would not return she was going to cry again when she heard Kaguya speak once more.

"This one is special." She held a single green orb on her palm and gave it to Sakura. "Do not loose him again." And for a brief second she smiled at the pinkette. But as soon as she had come to be she was no more in her place laid just sand. She had dissappeared as if she were an edo-tensei. After getting over the initial shock Sakura did not wait a single moment. She quickly pressed her hand firmly onto the brunette's chest.

"Come on you egotistical jerk, WAKE UP!" After a couple of seconds she lowered her head and whispered. "I knew it..."

"Insulting me is n-not gonna help..." She snapped back up and looked at his face.

"Sasuke?" his eyes opened revealing the ebony orbs she had come to love."SASUKE!" she hugged him and started to cry tears of joy. Sasuke raised his arms to return the gesture./span/p

"You were always so annoying." She turned his head to s inhale the scent of her hair. "How could i get addicted to you?" Sakura smiled and backed up enough to look at his face./span/p

"Because i am the only one who could stand all of your bullshit?" She started to get closer to him.

"And i am the only one who would do all of that bullshit in a bullshit attempt to woo you." He kissed her. It was not as romantic as she would have wanted and neither of them have had much practice, but to hell with that she was kissing the boy of her dreams, and he was the one who started it.

"Umm yeah i.. Um... I am going to go and see if the Hokage-Sama is ok... Bye" with those awkward words Kakashi was gone in a puff of smoke.

"Hnn"

"Oh fuck, again with the one liners, Uchiha?"

"Just shut up, Haruno." With that he claimed her lips again.

[Scene change]

"Neji could not remember where he was. All he could see was a bright flash of light and then he heard a voice.

""You've grown Neji." That voice, it was familiar.

"Otou-sama?" His father had long since left the world of the living. The event had left him with bitter resentment against his uncle Hiashi. But he had long since changed. And looking at his father now only brought him joy. He was standing near a campfire in the Hyuuga compound, many people were around looking happy as one could be, but Neji's interest was solely on the man standing in front of him. A smile formed upon the older Hyuuga's face. He started to walk towards his son but Neji was shocked beyond words.

"How did you get into this mess huh? You just got yourself killed!" This last part snapped him back to his senses.

"I did the same thing you did. I saved the life of someone who was worth more." This made Hizashi frown.

"My dear son, you are inferior to none. Not because of your blood or your skill. But because you are a human being. And your life is worth as much as anyone else's." Neji was conflicted by his answer.

"Then why did you give yourself to the captors instead of Hiashi?" Hizashi smiled warmly at the confused boy./span/p

" Hinata needed her father. The clan needed their leader. I knew back then that you were strong enough to fend for yourself because after all, you are my son."

"I was strong enough? You left me scarred, i lived for years thinking that the main family was to blame. I thought that our family was doomed to live in their shadow. I was messed up beyond fucking repair!" Neji was hysterical but his father remained calm.

"Yet here you are, all grown up and with your mind straight. From what you can tell me there is something else that happened to you in my absence. So give it up. Who helped you?" Neji was taken aback by such deduction but soon his face showed happiness.

"Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto. He was a young boy who i thought a fool for many years. But i soon realized that his wisdom, to some extent, surpassed my own. His determination to show the village that he was worth something. Everyone called him a joke, a failure. I always looked down on him. When the time for the Chuunin exams came i was to fight him. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake and for a while it was but then the impossible. He had fooled me with a clone and had dug a tunnel with his bare hands. His nails were destroyed but he did it, he beat me. After that day i slowly pondered on my ways. I wanted to change and become the master of my own destiny because," he looked straight to the horizon, "if the town's idiot changed his fate why can't a hyuuga?"

"Now son that sounds lovely but..." Neji looked at his father in a questioning manner. "No man changes that much for another man... Unless you're gay?" At the mention of the last phrase Neji became really embarrassed.

"NO FATHER! It is not like that" Hizashi let out a deep and loud laugh.'

"Well then, what's her name?" Neji was puzzled by the sudden request.

"Huh?"

"What is the name of the girl that also pushed you to change?" Impressibly enough Neji was blushing. His entire face was reddening by the second. Although it was not near as red as Hinata's blush. Hizashi was nothing but entertained by the picture in front of him, he was truly enjoying it. "Aha! So there IS a girl! Who is she?"

"Her name is... Ten Ten."/

"Does she know?" Neji looked at his father. Hizashi had a stern expression.

"W-Well n-not exactly but..."

"Neji it is a simple question. Does she know?" Neji looked at the ground in defeat.

"No..." He closed his eyes and curled his hands into fists. "I've been meaning to say something but I just can't. Now it seems I will never be able to." A single teardrop fell from his cheek. But as it hit the ground it started to shine. The light was quickly covering him from head to toe.

"Looks like you might still have a chance after all, just do not fuck up this time. Promise me that Neji." Neji was astonished by the quick change of events but there was one thing he was certain of./span/p

"Wait no, i do not want to leave yet! I have to ask you some things!" Hizashi had a soft expression in his face and only smiled at his son.

"When the time comes I will be happy to answer them, for now just take care, my son." Hizashi waved to Neji as a farewell, but the latter had one more thing to say.

"I thank you for everything Otou-Sama. Goodbye and I-I love you." The last thing he saw was his father mouthing the words "I love you as well" but he did not hear anything. Next thing he knew he was in the middle of a field, or so it seemed. The sunlight shone on his face and he was forced to close his eyes. He stood up and looked around for some sign of his friends. It seemed like a lost cause until he saw two brown hair buns in the distance. He did not think twice before he sprinted full speed towards her. He stopped a few feet behind her just looking at her. Her slim figure with feminine traits contrasting with the words that came off her mouth. /span/p

"Fuck! God damn it this is worse than a hangover! SHIT! My head feals like a fucking bomb," Neji was slightly stunned by her sudden, and lovely, vocabulary.

"Ten Ten..." it was supposed to be a whisper but the words just flew right off his mouth. Apparently she heard it because her hands went from her face to her mouth. She turned around slowly and gasped loudly.

"N-Neji?" her faced went from shock to happiness as she quickly ran to where he was. He stretched out his arms in order to hug her but instead got something else.

SLAP!

"Ten Ten's hand was stretched out on the side of Neji's cheek which was now red because of the, rather powerful, slap.

"OUCH! What the hell woman, I come back from the dead and this is how you receive me I can just-" He could say no more for the woman who had slapped him was now kissing him.

"I could get used to it..." Ten Ten chuckled slightly but then punched him in the arm before breaking into tears again.

"Don't ever, EVER, scare me like that again..." She went to hug him. "I thought i had lost you..." Neji backed up enough to look at her face. He wiped her tears with his thumbs and then proceeded to speak.

"Do not worry Ten Ten. I will never again leave your side. You wish to know why?" He gently held her face with his hands.

"Why?" She whispered slowly closing the distance between them. Neji started to smirk before speaking again.

"Because I am one of the most stubborn Hyuugas in existence, I get what I want and sadly I have fallen for you," one of his hands snaked its way to the side of her hips bringing her closer,"for now I want only you." Ten Ten's hands roughly grabbed his kimono's collar and she stared sternly at his eyes. For a second he thought he was doomed but then she tentatively smiled.

"Well if you must know, I also have recently had feeling towards you," she leaned into his ear before continuing speaking, "but be warned, I am very possesive." He then proceeded to claim her lips with a smile. In her face the once tears of sadness, now flowed with joy. In the far other end of the field a golden haired man smiled knowingly.

"About fucking time!" He then proceeded to advance the other way remembering one other person he had thought of. "Hinata..."

[Scene change]

To say that he was frustrated would be an understatement. He had been looking for her for more than THREE hours. He had swept the battlefield five times now and had been using clones for the last hour. He had gone up and down the field, through entire forests, and across the blazing desert.

"Damn it Hina. Where are you?" Just then he spotted a dash of a dark purple hair, such a color would cause most people to only see darkness but he saw a light like no other.

"Hinata?" She was lying down in the middle of a dying pod of the once threatening tree. Her face peaceful and with a tender smile. Naruto could not help but think that she was now the most beautiful girl, no, woman in the world. Because she had grown quite a bit in the last few years, and Naruto was anything but oblivious to those changes. But pushing those thoughts aside he brushed her hair over her ear, and kissed her forehead.

"Hina-hime... Wake up.." her nose wrinkled in discomfort for being woken up from such a pleasant dream. Her eyes blinked slowly trying to get used to the bright lighting. She sat up while rubbing her eyes trying to get used to the still stinging light in her eyes. She closed her eyes for a good 5 minutes and then she slowly opened them. The first thing she saw was the bright smile that caused her limbs to turn into noodles and made her heart flutter in excitement. Just above that radiant smile laid two of the most beautiful eyes of a warm sky blue color that made anyone happy just by looking at them, or so she said. She had to blink repeatedly to make sure it was not a dream.

"N-Naruto-kun," she looked around everywhere trying to hide her increasing blush from Naruto. "Where are we?"She was still looking around when she felt something warm embracing her hand. She looked down to notice that Naruto's hand had encircled hers so she gave it a light squeeze. She then stared straight into his eyes and found that they had been staring at each other for a little too long, so she coughed a little trying to break the silence.

"I-Is it over, N-Naruto-kun." Although she knew the answer to that question she would feel a million times better if she heard it come out of his lips. Instead he smiled broadly and picked her up in a bear hug while spinning her around. She could only laugh at his antics.

"YES! Hina-hime it's finally over! THE WAR IS OVEEEER! WOOOOHOOOOO!" They were both laughing out loud now. Suddenly he stopped spinning and lowered her again.

"Your laugh Hinata..." She felt a little disappointed that he had dropped her nickname but instead she chose to focus on the words he had said.

"Sorry Na-Naruto-kun. I know m-my laugh is a l-little bad,"she looked down in embarrassment but soon felt a hand on her chin which gently lifter her gaze until it met his. He looked hurt and Hinata felt worse, laming it all on herself.

"Your laugh is the most beautiful sound that could possibly exist, and from now on I will do everything I can to make sure that you laugh every single day." Hinata was now shedding tears of pure happiness. No one had ever said that to her before. And the fact that the person saying those things was no other than Naruto, her Naruto.

"I don't want to hear you diminishing your worth like that ever again. You are not shameful. You are perfect. You're king and smart. Your beautiful and delicate. But most of all," he had stood up and was now offering her his hand. She lowly reached out for it herself and when she was on her feet he got closer to her and whispered, "you are the only person who, despite all the ridiculous things I did, despite what all of the villagers said, you still saw me for who I am and," he grabbed her hand and brought it to his face, softly kissing it, "you came to love me. I have no clue as to why someone like you would fall for someone like... Well someone like me." He looked to the ground as if he were ashamed of looking directly at her. She brought her other hand and grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her.

"I will no longer think less of myself if you want but please do me a favor and don't think of the past like that. You are amazing. Your kind, strong, determinated, you have the purest heart in the world, but most of all, you are the only one who can bring peace between the villages." She then kissed the tip of his nose and hovered just above his lips. "That is why I, Hyuuga Hinata, love you, Uzumaki Naruto." With that she forgot all about her shyness and hesitation and just kissed him. For a short moment Naruto was taken aback but soon enough he started to kiss her back. It was only a couple of seconds long but for them it was an eternity of perfection. When they were forced to stop the kiss to breath they leaned their foreheads together.

"Wow..." was the only thing both of them could say. They were so distracted with each other that they were oblivious to the people standing around them.

"Oi, Dobe," when Naruto turned around he saw his best friend standing next to his sensei and with an arm around her teammate's shoulders.

"Temee! You're okay!" completely ignoring the insult Sasuke just smirked.

"Of course, you will need my help to not screw up big time," Naruto pouted his as if he were hurt by the insult and suddenly loud roar erupted. But it was no longer made of anger, if one heard attentively enough it was laughter. All of the original shinobi army was united as one. Naruto took Hinata's hand into his own and stepped towards the crowds of people waiting for him to speak.

"This war is finally over, though it cost us a lot of good people and energy, we are finally victorious, and now those who were once the enemy I know consider friends. Though they have left us we shall remember them as heroes. This day won't be forgotten soon, I just hope that the peace between out villages lasts just as long. For now lets go home to rest you are all heroes and I shall be ever grateful. BELIEVE IT!" The crowds erupted into shouts of euphoria, everyone was celebrating just being there, alive and able to fight another day. Suddenly the crowds split in two and in the middle were the five kages just smiling at Naruto. They slowly made their way towards him who just waited for them with a smile. Gaara was the first to speak.

"I once thought you were just a foolish boy, who would have thought that you would amount to this? You have become a hero, you put your life at risk to save us, and from now to the end of time we shall be grateful. The young fool that everyone looked down on is now the great hero that everyone looks up to." Naruto just smiled and wiped a single tear that had formed in his right eye. Then A, the Raikage, took a step forward.

"When I met your father we were fighting to death against him. He was surely a weird one. Even though we were sworn enemies he still wanted to resort to anything but violence. I though he was insane back then but now I see that he was right. And what better person to carry that ideal than his son." Naruto bowed respectfully to the older kage. Then Mei Terumi, the Mizukage stepped forward./span/p

"When this war started, we agreed that you were to be protected by us so that the kyuubi would be safe. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that it would be you who protected us in the end. You are quite the strong young man, not to mention quite handsome,: she winked at him but Hinata felt a tad bit jealous so she just stepped to his side possessively. "Don't worry my dear girl, I like men with a little more... Experience." With that she left leaving Onoki, the Tsuchikage, to speak.

"I never quite understood you young ones. Always rushing to go somewhere and holding no regard for rules. I thought you could not handle the responsibilities of the future now i see that there is no better person to entrust them to than you," he smiled to the boy in front of him but quickly recovered his original posture. "I still do not like your hard head but you are pretty much okay." As he stepped to the side only Tsunade remained.

"I still remember the young boy who went looking for me. He was foolish, impulsive, hard headed, but he had the purest of intentions. I knew from the moment I saw you that you would accomplish great things. You always worked so hard to earn everyone's respect, even mine. You always strive improve but are humble about it. Jiraiya knew that you would one day save us all. If he were here right now he wold be laughing and saying i told you so, he held the deepest faith in you and loved like his own son, Naruto..." by now they were both crying and Tsunade just went and hugged Naruto sobbing into his shirt. "By now everyone present will know that you are the only one that can help us keep this alliance and obtain true peace... Hokage-sama." The last words were the only par that Naruto could not believe.

"What, baa-chan what are you saying?" Tsunade smiled warmly at him and stepped back to be aside the other kages. /span/p

"You heard me Naruto, from this moment on I am hereby naming you as my successor. The Rokundaime Hokage." He was just standing still, speechless. While everyone else was just cheering for him all he could do was smile. Kakashi was in the side cheering as well, but he had to wipe a couple of tears that threatened to come out.

"A dobe as the Hokage, we are doomed," Sasuke smirked as he walked up to him, standing on his right side wit Sakura under his arm.

"Your official ceremony can be in a couple of years, for now I will teach you about the official duties of the Hokage as the village's representant," Tsunade could not help but see admired what the boy had grown up to become, she just smiled proudly at him, "You already know the part of protecting."

"Nee, Naruto. You still are a numbskull, you're going to need my help. No matter how troublesome it will be for me. We wouldn't want you burning down the village now would we?" Now Shikamaru stood in front of him Temari by his side latching on to his arm.

"Thank you, all of you. But i think Kakashi-sensei has the right to be the next Hokage not me," before he said anything else Kakashi was in front of him waving his hands back and forth in resignation.

"Nope Naruto, you are not pinning this on me! Obito might have wanted me to be the Hokage but I don't. You'll have to fend for yourself in this one. But trust me," he looked at him and smiled,"you'll be just fine."

"Well in that case I'll accept." And having said that he once again turned towards Hinata and kissed her passionately, pointing out to all of the shinobi that she was his, and his only. When they parted Naruto smiled at her then turned towards the shinobi. "Come on everybody we have plenty to do! Even with the war over we have lots of rebuilding to do so lets get to it!" And with that he led the crowds towards the horizon and to their villages in which their families waited for their safe return. Soon Hinata broke the silence and spoke to Naruto.

"N-Naruto-kun? W-What now?" He just smirked at her and said. "I seriously don't know. Hina-hime. Lets just enjoy this moment of peace for as long as we can." With that the crowds fell silent, the only sound heard was the leaves rustling in the wind and the various steps of many shinobi that were now a big family. His family, and he had vowed to protect the until the end of time.