A million thank yous to the followers, reviewers, and favorite-ers (Is that a word? No? Well it is now... ) Thanks for the support!

I know that this chapter is early (and short), but I decided to post this in honor of the end of Naruto. I actually feel kinda sad to see it end, it's been going on for such a long time that it almost seems unreal that it's ending, but maybe its just me. Any who,

Enjoy~!

REWRITTEN: NOV 8, 2014

After her most recent treatment session under the scrutiny of her two teammates, Haruno sighed. She couldn't help but feel offended. Seriously, they 'feel concern over their sensei'? What kind of messed up line was that? Did they think she was incompetent or something and that she would mess up when treating their sensei? Did they trust so little in her healing skills? Sure she's not an expert medic nin or anything, but she's been healing her injuries ever since she could remember. Haruno huffed as she stepped out of the room. She left the small first aid kit at the side of the door. Tsunami, the kind soul, said to leave it there in case something happened to her sensei (or her idiot teammates) and she would know where the kit was. She could hear a ruckus going on in the room she just left, but she didn't want to get involved in another one of the boys' arguments.

She dragged her feet across the floor and was about to turn down the corner when she saw Inari, Tsunami's son and Tazuna's grandchild. The little boy had quite a pessimistic attitude- or just attitude in general. She could still recall all those times when he would say that they were only going to get themselves killed. He would often whisper the words of discouragement when he was not seen by his mother or their sensei. He knew that they could hear him, but he would leave the room or hall the second one of them reacted to his words.

Luckily, another Naruto miracle occurred. That blond knucklehead managed to convince the brat to believe in them; that they would come back from the confrontation they would have with Gato and free the village from Gato's villainous clutches. Top it off with one of those megawatt smiles of his and Naruto found a new believer. The pinkette shook her head. In a few years, Naruto would probably have an uncountable fan group and they would found a religion called 'Narutoism'. Haruno couldn't help the delicate snort that expelled from her body. She saw Inari turn to her with a brow raised, but she merely smiled slightly at the boy and he only looked more puzzled at her and continued on his way.

Haruno informed her team's ward and his daughter of his whereabouts for training before bidding them farewell and leaving the place they were momentarily housed in. She calmly walked through the adjacent forest and wandered into the destined clearing with a pond in the middle. Once there, she set down her pouch and began her warm-up exercises. After she was done with her stretches, she took a deep breath, then in a second, kicked her pouch so that it flew high into the air. Kunai fell out of the pouch in scattered directions. Before they could land, she caught them all, each in their own orb. She pulled them close to herself and adjusted the orbs so that only the pointed ends of the knives were surrounded by water. The water froze into ice, jagged and dangerous. She tossed them into a tree and heard the thunks as they cut deeper into the tree than a regular kunai. Pleased by the results of her experimenting, she melted the ice and the kunai slipped out of the holes they made in the tree.

She ran to pick up the pouch and refilled it with her kunai. She strapped the pack onto her thigh before digging into the pouch on her hip. She took out a handful of senbon and tossed them into the air above her head. Quickly, she formed a shield made of water to protect her from the raining senbon. As soon as the needles sunk into the water, she froze the water to ice. Luckily, Haruno was fast enough to freeze the water so the senbon did not pass through the other side of the liquid.

The next thing to test out was her whirlpool. She tried to make the large body of water swirl, but it seemed that only the center of the lake obeyed. The outer part of the lake moved along with the whirl, but it was clear that it wasn't because she was making it do so, but was being pulled along. She huffed, all wars can't be one all at once. She decided to move along and created a clone. The clone was her guinea pig to test out her improvised water prison. Nodding simultaneously, the two began. Haruno pulled the water from the pond to surround her clone. After the orb was formed, she made it swirl erratically. Her jutsu was working judging by her clone's expression. The clone poofed out of existence at the time when Haruno would have passed out from the water and lack of air in her lungs. The sight was a chilling one Haruno had to admit, but she couldn't test it out on anyone else without harming them.

Finally, it was time for her favorite. Haruno concentrated and several blobs of water emerged from the lake and turned into snow before once again shifting to small wolves. Her pack of four bounded eagerly to her to receive their pets before moving back for her orders. She was wondering how to train with them when she caught sight of a deer at the edge of the forest. The deer did not take notice of them (yet), but perked its ears in caution. Haruno yelled out her command to get the deer and the deer quickly bounded back into the forest with Haruno and her pack at its heels.

The deer led them through a long chase in the forest, but Haruno's swiftest wolf caught up to it and tripped it by accidentally running in front of it. The wolf turned back to water as the deer fell forward. She ordered her wolves to stop. They did so and the shaken deer wobbled a bit before running further into the forest. She patted the three wolves for listening to her commands even through the thrill of the hunt. The wolves eagerly lapped up the attention. Haruno giggled, honestly they seemed more like tame dogs than wild wolves.

Suddenly, Haruno felt woozy and stumbled. Her wolves whined in concern. She used too much chakra. She waved them off just as she passed out. The wolves melted into water that splashed into the ground.

x

"Sensei!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke only glared at the bedridden man.

"Yes~?" Kakashi couldn't help the teasing note that only made the boys madder.

"Don't pretend that we don't know what you're doing!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke, though subtle, nodded in agreement.

"What am I doing exactly?" Kakashi asked.

"You know!" Neither Naruto nor Sasuke wanted to say what the problem was.

"I don't actually." Kakashi smiled under his mask.

"Yes! Yes you do!" Naruto was getting more and more upset. Sasuke was getting more and more annoyed.

"I don't."

"Ugh!" Naruto cried out. "I'm done with you!" He left the room, angry stomping being heard.

Kakashi turned to his other student, "so, Sasuke-what?" the boy was gone from his previous location and was now next to the door. "Won't you tell me what the problem is-?" He was cut off as Sasuke opened the door and left.

Kakashi sighed before chuckling to himself. 'If only those boys would admit their infatuation. Then NaruHaru or SasuHaru would set sail! I would demand, no, I would be captain of the ship!' He mentally yelled, with a determined fist bump to the sky.

x

Haruno groaned and grabbed her head as her vision cleared. It seemed that she bumped her head when she fell. She gazed around the new clearing she was in since this didn't have a pond or was covered by trees like the one where she confronted the deer. She was about to speak when someone interrupted her.

"Ah, you're awake now."

Haruno gasped slightly as she looked up into the face of one of the most attractive people she ever saw. Dark long hair and a dark gaze. Their clothing brushed against the ground as they walked. The gaze and expression flat, but light, though she could sense the hard past that that individual must have gone through. However, the person clearly carried themselves highly and elegantly, almost like a noble.

"U-uhm," Haruno swallowed the lump in her throat to stop her stuttering, it was unbecoming of a ninja, such as herself. "Where am I?"

"I found you passed out in a clearing. It seemed that you were suffering, so I brought you to this clearing so I could help you. If I may, what were you doing to cause you to get to such a state?"

"Ah, I was training and it appeared that I exhausted myself." Haruno laughed nervously. "Thank you for your help, I appreciate it."

"Hmmm...by any chance are you a ninja?"

"Oh! Yes, I am!" Haruno replied quickly. The person's expression softened the tiniest bit more.

"Ah, I see."

"Is there any particular reason why you asked this?" The person's face turned towards her and she quickly amended her inquiry. "I didn't mean to sound rude or anything of the sort, I was simply curious. I apologize." She said as she bowed her torso.

"No. It's a completely valid question." The person settled down Haruno's worries. "It's simply because my younger sibling would have been around your age and would have been a ninja as well." The person answered.

"Did something occur? Again, I apologize."

"Yes, but the matter is of n concern. It's in the past and the past cannot be rewritten." The person finished.

A long silence stretched afterwards before Haruno broke it. "I never asked, but may I learn your name?"

The person seemed thoughtful for a moment before answering, " My name is..."

"My name is of no importance..." the person replied. Haruno could feel the pout forming on her face. The other person's deadpan expression did not change.

"Can you not tell me?" Haruno asked. She tried to see all directions of the matter before she assumed the person was rude.

"No. I simply would prefer not to answer your inquiry."

Okay...they're rude.

"Well," even though Haruno was upset, she still stuck to the manners her brother ingrained into her head, "thank you for saving me".

"Hm."

"Are you a shinobi?" Haruno asked.

"Perhaps."

"Are you going to give me any definite answer to anything I ask you?"

"I am male."

'Glad we cleared that up,' Haruno thought sarcastically while mentally rolling her eyes.

"A better thing to be worried about is how you are going to get back to where you need to be." The man stated.

"Ack!" Haruno just realized: she had no idea where she was, much less how she was going to get back to her teammates. The figure let out a barely audible sigh. The person lifted a finger towards the forest. In the distance, Haruno could see a trail.

"Follow that trail. It will lead you back towards the village." The male stood up and appeared to get ready to leave the clearing as well.

"Are you leaving?" Haruno asked.

"Yes." The person spoke. "I have come for what I needed. It is time for me to depart."

"Goodbye, then. I wish you safe travels on your journey." Haruno bowed towards the man.

"Likewise."

Haruno picked herself up from the ground and dusted herself off before heading for the path. Before she was out of the man's sight, the man called back to her.

"Amarante."

"Yes?"

"I am."

"What?" Haruno was confused.

The man's face shifted into an almost unnoticeable grin before making his face blank again. Then, he looked directly into Haruno's eyes before his figure began to warp. At first, Haruno thought that the man was actually a water clone, when she noticed the ends of his clothes and feet break into pieces before forming into a more bird-like shape. The birds remained dark in color and their eyes were a bright crimson. The crows flew in a swirl upwards into the sky.

Haruno continued to watch in awe as the birds flew more out of view until they were only tiny specks. Haruno saw a waver in the air and noticed something falling slowly towards her. She held out her hand as the object landed in her palm.

A single black feather.

You know I was listening to all these (somewhat) sad and old melodies and I feel a melancholic nostalgia now... Hee hee, bet you expected it to be Haku, huh? I really wanted to have Itachi in this fic, though...

Japanese: English

sensei: teacher

kunai: ninja weapon; resembles a dagger with a diamond point

senbon: ninja weapon; resembles needles