I have watched Haku's and Zabuza's death several times, and now I have even rewritten the scene in my story... and I still cry every time.


A New Companion

Two weeks after the battle at the bridge…

Naruto looked around a bit more, even though he'd already done it for several minutes. But he wanted it to be perfect, the place where they'd placed Haku's and Zabuza's graves. And this place was not that bad; it was a green hill a bit away from the forest, with view over the landscape and Tazuna's hometown. Naruto was sure that they ones who rested by the graves would be very pleased. And as he was thinking about this, he carefully and quietly bent down to the plate with rice balls that Sakura had places in front of the graves along with the flowers…

"Naruto!" Sakura snarled furiously and whacked away his hand. "Learn to behave, will you?!"

Naruto laughed shamefacedly and looked away. He only wanted a little taste.

"But… Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura said with a slightly troubled look on her face, and she caught her sensei's attention. "Is… is a shinobi really what those two said…?"

"… A shinobi shall never claim its own value." Kakashi answered. "You shall only be a tool… live as a tool… This goes for our village as well."

That bothered Naruto. It bothered him extremely much. "Is that really what a true shinobi is?" he asked. "I don't like it at all!" he raised his arms and rested his neck in his palms.

Yami detained her silence and kept her eyes on the graves, and Sakura didn't speak either.

"Do you think that too?" Sasuke asked Kakashi.

"Hm? Ah, well, you see… I think every shinobi are somewhat anxious about that… just like Zabuza." Kakashi added and cast a glance at the flower-decorated graves. "And that boy…"

Suddenly Naruto walked up to the graves and pursed his lips in a childish way but with a determined look on his face. "Yosh! I've made up my mind," he said. "I'm gonna walk my own ninja way!"

"Eh…" was all that Sakura managed to say, and they others looked at him. And even though Naruto didn't see it, Yami looked at him with a mysterious and somewhat amused smile on her lips. And Kakashi smiled too.


Later that week, Naruto and the others were standing at the bridge that was finally done, preparing to say goodbye to Inari, Tazuna and the others.

"Thanks to you, we were able to finish building the bridge," Tazuna said thankfully. "But it'll sure be sad when you leave."

"Thanks for everything," Kakashi smiled.

"That's our line!" Tazuna laughed.

"Don't worry, we'll come and visit ya!" Naruto ensured.

"You… promise…?" Inari asked with muffled voice where he stood by his grandfather.

Naruto swallowed hard, and he annoyingly felt how his eyes became watery. "Inari, hehe! Y-you… I-it's alright if ya cry a little…!" he said with a tough look on his face.

"Y-you can cry! I-I'm a man…!" Inari retorted.

"… Well then… See ya!" Naruto said quickly and turned around, fighting back the tears.

"Hah… don't try to be cocky," Sakura muttered.

"R-right! Now we're gonna go home and report to Iruka-sensei and let him treat us to ramen!" Naruto sniggered as they waved goodbye to the others and started walking.

"Sasuke-kuun~! Can… can we go out on a date when we get ho-?"

"No."

"…."

"Hey, hey, Sakura-chan! You and I could go out if you wan—"

"I WASN'T TALKING TO YOU, DUMMY!"

Kakashi just smiled gingerly.

And the team left, while Tazuna and the others were trying to come up with a name for the bridge.

"Hey… I think I have a good idea…" Tazuna said with a smile, as they watched the five shinobi disappear out of sight.

"What?"

"The Great Naruto Bridge."

"Heh… not bad."

"Are we really going to call it that?"

"Of course. Because it never gives up… and one day, it will be famous and known all over the world. Just like the one it was named after!"


Yami had been silent ever since they left Tazuna's town. She was deep in thought and barely noticed the loud conversation/argument that Naruto and Sakura had a few meters in front of her, nor that Kakashi occasionally cast suspicious glances at her.

She had been thinking long and hard, and even though she didn't like it – not at all – she had reached a conclusion and took a deep breath to gather her confidence, and then she suddenly stopped dead on the road.

Naruto and the others stopped as well and turned around.

"Yami? Is something wrong?" Naruto asked with a surprised face.

"… There's … something I need to say…" Yami said quietly, avoiding eye contact with all of them. She had thought that saying this would be an easy thing considering that she had been gathering courage for several hours, but now that she stood there, in front of the people that she had actually grown fond of, she found it nearly impossible in her heart to do it. She glanced at Naruto and the others that were waiting for her to say something, and she swallowed hard and met their eyes before she spoke: "… I will be leaving you here."

She was not sure what kind of reaction she had expected, and she tried not to falter when she saw their faces.

Naruto and Sakura looked at her as if they'd never met before, Sasuke looked uncertain too, it was only Kakashi that didn't move a muscle, and he simply looked at her with his usual casual look in his eyes.

"What… are you talking about…?" Sakura asked, and Yami avoided their eyes once again.

"Well… I did show you the path to Tazuna-san's hometown… but that was pretty much all that I was supposed to do… I don't really know why I lingered with you after that…" Yami explained slowly. "I – you should – I don't want you to think that I didn't enjoy the time I spent with you – I really did – but…" she trailed off for a while. "I only knew you for a few weeks, but… I am really, really glad that I met you…" she said with a faint smile on her lips. "Well, I suppose what my point is… that… it's time for you guys to return home now. To your village."

It was more painful than she would've ever expected, and the following silence hammered in her ears. Her smile faded as she looked down at the ground, unable to face the others.

"Come with us."

.!

It took a while for her mind to process what Naruto had just said. She slowly raised her head with a god-knows-how shocked expression on her face, because she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

"What… did you say…?" she asked in a strange voice.

"Come with us." Naruto repeated, and his face was more serious than Yami had ever seen before. "You helped us throughout our mission… you wandered with us, you trained with us… well, you were just like one of us," Naruto continued. "I – we want you to come with us!" and now the others were encouraging this proposition as well.

"Yeah, Yami, come with us!" Sakura said. "It felt great to finally have a feminine friend!" she added happily.

Sasuke opened his mouth as if to say something, but hesitated and then closed his mouth again. He still had a pleased look on his face, though.

"That's right, that's right!" Naruto said with his usual childish and impatient voice. "And, and Kakashi-sensei would want that too, right?" he said and turned to Kakashi, who returned a smile. "Yeah (Finally someone who might be able to keep an eye on the wildbrains in this group.)"

Kakashi suddenly took a few steps closer to Yami and searched in his little ninja pouch. "Well… this might be unrelated.." he began with a shrewd smile. "but I just happened to carry this around… and now I think that it might suit you…" he continued and held up a Konoha forehead protector, "if you're going to join our team… and become a member of Konohagakure."

Yami realized that she must look stupid, but she just couldn't stop staring at the not-that-big thing that symbolized so much to her, that rested in Kakashi's hand. After a while, she took it, and then looked down.

"Are you… really… serious about this…?" she asked quietly, staring down at her hands. "Do you really mean this…?"

"Of course!" Naruto sniggered and looked at her with a big smile on his lips. "I mean, we're friends, right?"

Friends…

Everything suddenly felt distant. Yami's heart was overflowing with feelings, and she felt that she was trembling now. Friends…?

She had almost forgotten the sound of that word, the feeling when it reached your ears. No one had ever…

Don't cry… she told herself. She knew that it was shameful and that she might be a coward, but she couldn't hold back her tears anymore, as she had done in all years.

Her friends were smiling. Naruto was smiling, Sakura was smiling, Kakashi was smiling, and even Sasuke was smiling now.

Yami gripped the forehead protector in her hands as if it was her own life, and she wanted to say something, she wanted to tell them how happy she was, how sad she was, she wanted to say so much to them right now, but her throat was just as blocked as her heart, as she wasn't able to suppress her emotions anymore, and just as she let them out and before her voice drowned in her own tears that were now running down her cheeks, she put every emotion and meaning into the one word that she was able to utter: "…. Thank you…!"


And this is the final chapter of volume 1 of "The Way of the Ninja" (the story will be divided into volumes), and if you liked it, then it's great! :D And you're more than welcome to read ep/vol 2 of this story, which I will try to publish soon. Of course it's the Chuunin Exams!

Please review, criticize or whatever you want and help me get on with the story and make it better!