a/n: I do not own Naruto or the cover image.

I apologize for this taking so long, but I have reasons: I got a job, graduated college (twice, so now I have 2 degrees!), and some other stuff. I apologize for some grammatical errors I know are lingering around. I'll change them someday. I had two versions of this chapter done so I combined them to make this one. To me, it works and make sense, but to some others you might not like it. I hope you do, though.

Thank you to those who have reviewed/favorited/followed/or stuck through. I really appreciate it.

"there are far, far better things
ahead than any we leave behind."
C. S. Lewis.

As the Hiraishin kunai embedded itself into a thick knot in the tree, Sakura appeared beside it, perched on a thin branch and caught the other, regular, kunai flying at her. Sticking the blade in a random bit of tree, she twirled the Hiraishin around a finger before she caught it and took a moment to stare at the seal wrapped around the handle.

Her seal.

She had worked damned hard to figure out the right combination for it to work right. In the days since the Kannabi Bridge, she had worked nonstop to perfect her technique and it had finally paid off. The extra weight no longer held her back and even learned to adapt to the extra prongs. Today was her last test run and she knew, without a doubt, that she was ready. With a smile etched on her face, she pulled Minato's Hiraishin out and stabbed it beside the other kunai, then pocketed both.

"You called?"

She flipped her Hiraishin and handed it to Minato, handle first. "For you." He accepted her gift, but not without giving her a questioning look first. "I have one of yours so it's only fair that you have one of mine, considering all that you've done and whatnot. So, thanks, Minato." His eyes softened towards her and he whispered a soft 'you're welcome' before he bent his head and pressed his lips to hers.

While they had not revealed any feelings, Sakura did manage to tell Minato about her wish to stay. His promises to be there with her, for her, were made with hard kisses and soft caresses and it was a decision that she was beginning to accept more and more with each passing day. She trusted Minato.

"Are you ready, Sakura?"

She nodded, rubbing a calf with her other foot, her hands fisting in her jacket pockets. "Yeah. Tsunade said she'll be able to leave Obito to the other nurses tomorrow, so we'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Rin and Kakashi will be staying here but we're bringing an Inuzuka with us to help track the scent. If you want I can go ahead and have them get used to the smell over night since it's so faded?"

She fingered the hem of her jacket, looking for a way to stall. Blinking quickly, she shrugged off the jacket and held it out between the two of them, her eyes hardening. He frowned, but nodded, gently brushing back a wayward strand of her hair. There were no words to be exchanged but then no words were needed. She huffed and her shoulders sagged as his hand grasped hers underneath the garish orange. "I have a plan."

He raised his eyebrows. "Do tell."

"I'll tell you tomorrow when we're all together. For now, I think I might relax the rest of the day."

"Alright. I'll get this to the Inuzuka."

"I'll see you later, then."

With one last kiss, they went their separate ways.

The next morning found Sakura staring down at Madara through the leaves from the tree she was hiding behind. They were some odd miles out of the village and the sun had yet to peak through the clouds. Seeing as how she didn't have night vision, they were reduced to hiding until either Madara realized they were there and made the first move or they could.

Either way, they were at a disadvantage.

It was those damn eyes of his. Brilliant, but only when they were on your side.

Her own green eyes shifted to the right as she dropped her body and swung around the tree branch just in time to dodge a massive ball of whateverthefuck just came out of Madara's staff. Right.

Her plan was simple and straight to the point. Get as close to Madara as possible.

Knowing what he was capable of, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Minato, and the Inuzuka whose name she forgot to get, were distractions. So she waited for Minato to count down and…she was off.

She threw a Hiraishin towards his head, caught it as it appeared behind him, and tossed it back towards his head. She added another Hiraishin until she felt her stomach pulling in two different directions and she thought she was going to be sick. Minato was also copying her strategy with using two different Hiraishin to distract Madara.

Jiraiya was working on sealing the area so he couldn't escape, and maybe some other things. Tsunade was literally up in his face, making this a close-combat kind of battle. The Inuzuka should be hard at work on trying to destroy the staff, or at least getting it away from him. Any minute now the dog should bark, giving her the signal…

There!

Her heart thumping wilding in her chest, Sakura tossed another Hiraishin. As her body materialized in front of Madara's she wrapped her legs around whatever part they reached and jabbed her fingers in both his eye sockets, her free hand catching the Hiraishin as it materialized behind Madara and digging it into the back on his head. Concentrating on her fingers and not the sudden pain in her sides, she sent wavelengths of chakra in short bursts to the optical nerves, branching it out into his Central Nervous System. She was knocked down along with Madara as Tsunade and Minato tackled a leg and an arm.

As the blood spilled from his eyes on her fingers, she squeezed her thighs, hoping to break a rib or two. "Now!"

The second she was yanked away by Minato, Jiraiya replaced her. Forming a series of complex seals faster then she's seen Kakashi form, she watched as a toad she hasn't seen before crawl up from the Earth and literally swallow Madara. Sakura held her breath.

Five minutes later and she let it out. "Wait. I'm confused. That's it?"

Everybody gave her a quizzical stare. "I-I mean….I was…wasn't there…um…"

Jiraiya chuckled. "Expecting more? Yeah, me too kid."

She stared at the new toad. It was the same burnt orange as Gamabunta but half its size and she swore its skin seemed to be melting, but there wasn't a puddle of toad gunk on the ground. Like most of Jiraiya's summons, it was wearing some odd sort of clothing. Hmph. "So…what's going to happen to him in there?" She gestured to Tsunade with Madara's eye's dangling from her fingers and the older woman was all too eager to take them.

"Well, he'll stay in there until we have a secure prison for him back in the village. Because he no longer has his staff or eyes, he's basically a prisoner in there. You've met my messenger toad, right?"

She nodded.

"It's the same thing. Except with a person instead of a message and with seals so he can't get out."

"Nifty. He new?"

"Yeah. Bit of the silent type, though. Haven't been able to get a name off'em."

Sakura could only nod in response and looked around. With only some few minor injuries, she figured they were ready to head home. This all seemed anti-climatic and it seemed like something was missing.

She stopped in her tracks. "The Nine-Tails!"

She swiveled around, pointing a bloody finger at Jiraiya. "He has the Nine-Tails sealed in a scroll! And the scroll that brought me here!"

Minato placed a calm hand on her shoulder. "Then we'll just have to deal with him a lot sooner, then, won't we?"

He smiled and her worries were forgotten - for the time being, anyway.

"Hey dad?"

Minato glanced down at his son and his lips did a downward turn. "What's wrong, Naruto?"

"Why does no one like me?" His voice was soft and he curled into his knees and Minato thought his heart was going to break. Sakura had said it was going to be bad, but not this bad. "What's so wrong with me that no one wants to be my friend?"

"There's nothing wrong with you, son." The young boy looked up at him with wide teal eyes and even though Minato was the Hokage, at that moment he hated everyone in the village who made his son feel like this. No child should ever feel this small, this broken.

"But…Dad…" Naruto wiped at his whiskered cheek, sniffing. "I can hear you and Mom sometimes, when you don't think I'm listening. You did something to me, didn't you?! What did you do to me?!"

In truth, both Minato and Sakura knew their son was listening to them. It was a mutual decision to let him gradually find out over the period of two weeks rather than him not know and just unload it upon him. They had been expecting this conversation. He just didn't expect it to hurt this much. No father wanted to see their son hurt.

They were sitting on top of the Hokage Monument, his head to be exact, so the wind that blew was chillier than usual. Minato shrugged off the coat that labeled him as such and draped it across Naruto's shoulders, glad to see his child wasn't too upset to still stick his arms through the long sleeves and flap them around.

"Naruto, they don't hate you. No one hates you, so don't ever think that. They just don't understand you, because you're a very special man. Besides, Sasuke's you're friend isn't he?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Don't forget about Kakashi, Rin and Obito. Or Iruka. Or Lord Third or Asuma..."

"Well yeah..."

"Naruto there are plenty of people who love you. Naruto, you're Mom and I gave you a gift because we knew you could handle it. In fact, you may not know it yet, but you're going to save this village one day!"

Naruto looked up and grinned, showing a pearly smile. "Really?! You think so? You think I could be like you Dad?!"

Minato chuckled and ruffled Naruto's hair. "Absolutely. But only with a positive attitude. Promise me you won't let the villagers get to you anymore. Besides, it upsets your Mom, and you know how she gets when she's upset."

"Yeah, scarr-ry!"

"Exactly! And because we want you to be able to save the village one day, Kakashi and I have agreed to start your training early."

"Wahh – even earlier than Sasuke's?!"

"Yes. But Naruto, this is a great responsibility. Are you ready?" Minato smiled at his son, already knowing the answer to come.

"Totally, let's get started now!"

"You sure?" The best part of having a son, Minato decided, was seeing his son being happy and determined. Just like his mother.

"I'm going to be the future Hokage one day so I gotta start my training! I'm ready, believe it!"

Yes, nothing better.

a/n: So that's it. I purposefully left Rin, Kakashi, and Obito, etc...out because the story wasn't really about them. And about the fight scene. I know it's short. Like, really short. But it just seemed to work for me. I'll probably post this, go lay down to sleep and think of something a thousand times better. But hey. I also purposefully left Sakura out at the end. I thought it was fitting for a father-son talk instead. A full-circle thing, ya know.

I'm proud of my work, even if it did take me a long time to get it out. So don't send me hate mail, please.
Again, thanks so much for all the reviews, follows, favorites, and subs. It made it so worth it.