Chapter 1

Remembrance

Naruto Uzumaki was laying facedown on the soft ground. If the 17 year old hadn't been so close to death he may have noticed how beautiful his surroundings were. The sky was dark, although lightened up by the thousands of twinkling stars overhead. The moon was full, shining brightly, as if it were demanding everyone's attention. The ground was soft and wet, with hundreds of waist high flowers that gave the illusion of a large colorful ocean waving in the late night breeze.

Fireflies were happily flying through the air, occasionally lighting their tail ends as they drifted around the flowers. The clearing was surrounded by a ring of amazingly enormous trees that, if the ninja had been conscience enough to notice, he would have thought to be incredible as they dwarfed any of the trees you would find around the HiddenLeafVillage.

But none of this was being absorbed by Naruto; his orange jacket was no longer that, but shredded pieces of fabric that clung to him, showing the world his torn body. His senses had quit working hours ago, leaving his mind alone to his thoughts as he clung onto life with such a will that only he possessed.

'Is this the end?' he asked himself. Asking that question did not scare him as much as he thought it would, but one thing did scare him.

'Naruto…' He'd completely forgotten about the Demon Fox inside of him, although calling him a Demon did not seem a right way to call the Fox after all they had been through together. He wasn't quite as evil as he used to be, showing signs of friendship, which always seemed to throw Naruto off guard. He knew he had that effect on people, he just never thought it would reach through to the Fox.

'I'm sorry Kyuubi, but I'm afraid this is probably the end.' he responded hazily as his mind grew tired, and before the Fox could respond Naruto closed off the link that let them communicate, something he had not done in a very long time.

'I wish it wasn't over yet…' he could feel his mind slipping away. '…I'm so sorry…'

The HiddenLeafVillage was covered in a dark shroud; storm clouds blotted out the sky, hurling hundreds of thousands of gallons of water onto the village. The sewage drains could barely keep up with the ridiculous amount of water that was being forced onto the streets. This was the worst storm the village had seen in decades, leaving everyone in the village to the confines of their house.

'I wonder when this rain is going to let up' thought Ino Yamanaka, as she looked out of her bedroom window. She wasn't really complaining, it was more like a hope that it wouldn't end anytime soon. She always enjoyed the rain; she enjoyed the feeling of solitude it gave her. It made her feel cut off from the world in a way that was incredibly, and unexplainably, comforting. She looked around her room, allowing herself to appreciate her ability to make herself feel at home.

The walls and ceiling were painted a light shade of magenta, while her floors were carpeted in a deeper and darker magenta that matched the trim around the top of the walls. Her bed, which was placed along the far side wall, was a twin sized mattress, and was covered in midnight black sheets, with matching pillows and blankets. Her bookcase was placed in the corner across from her bed, and was filled to its capacity of books. Most of these were romance, 'But hey,' she thought, 'I am a girl after all.' While the rest of them were books ranging from diet recipes to books containing exercise regimens. Then was her favorite part of the room, the armchair that she was sitting in next to the window.

The chair was the exact same color as the carpet, and was soft and warm. This was where she spent all of her time on nights like this, reading until the rain stopped, which always made her realized how tired she was before passing out. Next to the chair on the opposite side of the window was a desk which was quite bare since her school days were over, and only had a vase with one white rose, and a picture of her and the rest of Team 10. She had finally come to terms with the fact that Asuma was gone, and instead of avoiding looking at the picture she picked it up.

She smiled as memories of the missions they went on together flooded into her mind, and a tear fell down her right cheek. She didn't wipe it away, but let it dry, as she decided that it was tears of joy for having known the wonderful man she called her teacher.

As she let herself get washed away in the memories of the old days, she thought of Sasuke Uchiha. Ever since he had returned from his hatred filled life with Orochimaru and the Akatsuki, he had ridiculous aspirations to become the Hokage. The thought always made Ino laugh. Sasuke had about as much right to become Hokage as Ino did. 'You can't just leave the village, almost killing all of the rookie nine in the process , then proceed to join Orochimaru, committing countless crimes against Konoha and the rest of the world, and on top of that expect to be welcomed back as Hokage!'

She shook herself back to reality; 'I can't let myself get upset over that lunatic' she reminded herself. She looked from the picture to the rose, causing her heart to beat a little faster as butterflies filled her stomach. She decided that she did not want to ever forget the memories that rose brought back, and even though she was almost positive she couldn't possibly forget, she pulled out her diary that was completely void of writing. She turned the chair towards the desk, and grabbed a pen. 'I may not be one for writing down my feelings, but I'll be damned if I forget anything that happened this past month.' She looked down at the page and started writing.