Hello! The note's at the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

EDIT (3/26/17): Added in Yuudai.

EDIT (1/1/18): Basic stuff, sentence fluency.

EDIT (1/5/18): Name changes.

They were back on the road again the morning after the day they decided to call Aduryeanne, Era's End. None of them were too eager to stay in that place. They spent the rest of the day healing and grieving, and the night was set aside for planning. All but the smallest of children were included in the council. There was no question of whether they were moving somewhere else or not, it was a given. Rather, they discussed the possible places they could first travel to, and then they could decide on further plans from there.

Three options were presented; Anusuli, Suna, or Konoha. According to their cycle, it was time for them to head back to the island, however, they all agreed that things were different, and no one was feeling any pressing urge from the Land to head back. Besides, just like this cave, there were too many memories. They could go to Suna, but from their current location (they deemed themselves to be somewhere in the Land of Waterfalls), it was much too far for a rest stop. So in the end, it was decided that they would journey to Konoha, since the Yaunkur were heading there anyway before it all happened. Also, the Fire King and the Fire Queen were probably worried out of their minds when the Yaunkur hadn't shown up earlier.

So the next morning the exhausted children got up, found something to eat for a quick breakfast, and they all set for the road again. There was no need to pack anything up except for some berries they collected, since none of their supplies seemed to have been transported with them. The children could only hope Jiraiya didn't leave everything behind.

And over that one night, Yashima became attached to Nato and Hinata. When she first woke up in the hands of strangers, she wailed, calling out for a familiar face. This caused several other young children to begin to cry. It took the efforts of everyone to calm them down, and by the time Hinata came by, there were many frustrated teens. Hinata calmed the little babe down and Nato made them laugh with just a look. Together they put the kids back to sleep, and in the morning Yashima refused to be held by anyone but the two older children.

Another problem that arose had to do with who was to lead the group. The youngest child they had was Yashima, the oldest was Emine, and there were thirty-five of them in all. They were all grieving, lost children with different skill sets, and a few of them who hadn't been with the Yaunkur since the previous Ooyake. At the moment, it was simply those who stepped up to the pallet and the older children who lead the group. There were little arguments, since no one was in the mood to oppose a reasonable idea.

The general consensus was something like this: "let's just get to Konoha. We can figure things out from there."

Nato was known for being a loudmouth, but ever since Aduryeanne, he hadn't spoken much at all. When he was asked a question his answer was short and clipped. When a conversation began, instead of being the one who contributed the most, he took an observing role.

Hinata knew it was because Nato lost so many of his precious people, and he was trying to find a way to deal with it and overcome his grief. But she was worried, especially when a cheerful, uplifting mask was put in place. So when Nato came to her on the third morning before anyone else was up with a rare hesitant expression on his face, she was relieved.

"Neh…Hina? Can I ask you something?" Hinata nodded. The boy opened his mouth and then halted. He seemed to be gathering his thoughts, and Hinata waited patiently for her friend to speak. "What…what do you think will happen to us now? We have no parents, no guardians, no path…we're all alone." There was something like a broken sob at the end.

Hinata chose her words carefully before responding. "Well, I guess we get to Konoha and figure it out from there. All we really can do is to just keep moving forward." She stepped closer to the boy, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "And you know, Nato, we aren't alone, because we are exactly that. You acknowledged it yourself by saying 'we' and not 'I'. We all still have each other. I know it's really dark right now, but we have each other."

Then, it was as if the dams finally broke and Nato just began sobbing uncontrollably. It wasn't long before Hinata joined in, and they sank into a wet mess of tears on the ground. When the two calmed down enough to speak again some minutes later, Nato whispered to her, "You'll never leave me, right Hina?"

Said girl squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, and opened them again, speaking a promise. "I won't Nato. You will never be alone… And you'll never leave me, right?"

The boy made a sound that sounded like a laugh and a sob at the same time. "Of course Hina, how could I ever?"

They sat there for a while after that.

Something terrible and catastrophic recently occurred. Kushina could feel it. The entire world was eerily still. There was no rushing wind or twittering birds or swaying trees or falling water. There was just…nothing, the opposite of something.

Kushina sat down on a cushioned window alcove in the private upper floors of the palace's East Wing. Unbidden, her thoughts turned towards her missing son and the day he was born.

She remembered how all the city, all the country, was decorated with orange, red, and yellow lanterns, turning the land into a starry sky by nightfall. All the people were in their homes, or their neighbor's homes, awaiting the news of a new prince, and praying for the safety of their monarchs and the little babe. They may have not exactly known the dangers of that starry night, but they did understand that this was a not a night to sleep. All that day, the servants and Kushina's closest friends, namely Mikoto and Hitomi (the former was holding her own newborn son, and the latter was expecting a daughter soon), kept a careful eye on their Queen, watching her every step, always there to support her when it looked as though Kushina was about to topple over. All that day Minato (that girly husband of hers) was hovering over his wife's shoulder, asking if she needed to sit down, or if he could get her anything, or if she and baby Naruto were doing alright.

And all that day, Kushina just wanted to punch someone. She was cranky and sore because of the baby banging on the insides of her womb like they were drums, she was hungry because she always seemed to be so nowadays, and she just wanted this all to be over and to finally hold the baby she spent months growing. She was ready to not-be-pregnant, and go on a mission or something, anything to get moving around freely again and where could punch some faces at the same time.

She wanted out.

The time couldn't have come any later. When the sun began to set, Kushina was taken to a private medical facility in a location some miles outside of the city. There, everyone except for Kushina and Minato waited patiently for Baby Naruto to arrive. In Kushina's opinion, he took his sweet time, making it even more difficult for her and Minato to keep the Kyuubi in. But he was born perfectly healthy and the Kyuubi was sealed up tight. Little Baby Naruto had been secure in her arms.

The Queen smiled sadly as she recalled a conversation only fifteen minutes after the birth.

"Kushina, sweetie, can I hold him now? You're hogging him."

She turned away from her husband stubbornly, the tiny baby nestled in her arms. "No."

"Why not?"

"He's my baby. Go get your own if you want one so much." She clearly remembered the exasperated faces of her husband and the nurses, the latter group straight out laughing, even though she had been so focused on the miracle in her arms, wondering how one so small could have lungs so big.

Kushina chuckled a bit, as she thought back to that perfect moment before everything went wrong. She wished she had held onto her baby just a little longer. Her daughters and younger son were blessings, little angels she loved so much, but she still wished her tiny, strong Naruto, the one who made her a mother, could have grown up knowing his parents and siblings.

So trapped in her memory she was that she barely heard the bell calling for dinner. Kushina rose from her alcove by the window, and suddenly…she wasn't feeling so good. She nearly toppled over. Her head was pounding and alternative waves of cold and hot traveled all throughout her body. Her breathing became heavy and she was finding it hard to keep standing. She just wanted to collapse where she stood.

However, her family was expecting her to join them for dinner. She was an Uzumaki! No little illness was going to stop her! So Kushina kept pushing forward…

…She never did make it to dinner that night.

END OF BOOK 1

There it is. The first book is finished! I don't know when I'll post the prologue of the second book, but when I do, I will post on this story. The author's note will stay up for a week or so, but I will also add a note at the end of this chapter. Stay tuned!

Note: I know that Obito/Madara appeared right after Naruto was born, but I wanted to add a little moment in there. So let's just day that Obito/Madara was late but still managed to draw out the Kyuubi through pure determination or something. That works.

UPDATE (3/7/17): The prologue of the second book has been posted!