Done! After three years and long hiatuses due to school, this fic is finally done! I'd like to thank those who stuck around and read it throughout these years. I tried my best to end this fic on a positive, happy note just like the Naruto manga ended. I hope you enjoy this. Read on!

Chapter 26: Our Final Days

Three years later, Konoha remained proud and standing with its great forests and bright sunshine. Behind the entire village, a new face graced the Hokage monument. This face was Kakashi Hatake, Sixth Hokage of Konoha. As one ventures past the gate and into the village, little changes that happened over the years emerge. There were computers in most homes of Konoha. Everyone had cell phones. There was also construction beginning at the top of the Hokage monument. Although there were so many changes, some things remained the same like the buildings and shops and food stalls that graced Konoha since the beginning.

Near the entrance of Konoha, Triple B was beginning to leave for their mission. They were all chunins. Sanae grew to be a true beauty and she wore a longer version of her kimono and carried two swords on her back. Her long dark hair was tied up in a ponytail and her headband remained on her forehead. Kenji also matured well in three years as he switched out his brown jacket with a Konoha flak jacket and wore a standard uniform. Finally, Megane switched out his shirt and shorts for a blue and white trenchcoat. He still wore glasses though, but with technological enhancements on it.

"Hey, let's finish this mission fast. I feel bad for leaving when our friends are just coming back." Sanae requested. "I wanted to show them Choji-sensei's cute kid first before they see their sensei."

"Yeah, out of all those babies, Chouchou is the cutest." Kenji smirked, "It's been a while. I can't wait to spar with those two."

Megane merely sighed. "They will think you haven't changed."

"Alright team, let's move out!" Sanae exclaimed and they all charged out of Konoha.

Further into the village, two women were enjoying their afternoon lunch along with their little babies. Sakura tried her best to spoon feed her little daughter, Sarada, while Ino was bouncing her son, Inojin, on her lap. Sarada cutely took a big bite of her food and started chewing as best as she could.

"Ah, I can't believe our babies are already twenty four months old." Sakura cutely squealed as she wiped away the food from Sarada's mouth.

"Better relish it now. You have the oldest of the lot." Ino replied back. "I'm just glad to get out of the house once in a while. I'm still in the middle of the two year mark." Inojin suddenly reached out and spilled her tea. "Inojin!"

Sakura giggled.

"It's not funny Billboard Brow!"

"Hey. You don't have it as bad as Hinata-chan. Poor girl gave birth to Naruto's spawn."

"I can't believe he came back from his mission and left Hinata pregnant." Ino said in a huff. "I guess it's a good thing the mission is ending today. Now that's perfect timing. Naruto gets to handle Boruto and Hinata-chan can finally take a break. Oh Sakura, I didn't hear about Sasuke. Is he coming back?"

"Oh! Um...no, he had another mission come up…" Sakura replied and her eyes sadly darted down to her lap.

"Hey Sakura…" Ino lifted her best friend's head up. "He'll come back. You guys have the longest marriage out of all of us. He'll definitely come back and raise little Sarada with you."

"I hope so." Sakura picked up her little baby and hugged her close. "I want Sasuke-kun to see how beautiful his daughter is."

As the two mothers continue their lunch date, another mother was lying down next to her husband with her baby on her stomach. She seemed to remain the same after three years except her body was a little fuller and more voluptuous. Her husband, on the other hand, changed in that he was growing a goatee. She actually liked it. It made him look more manly. And their cute little child, little Shikadai, looked just like his father except he had his mother's eyes. Eyes that were closed because the little one already fell asleep.

"He is definitely your son, Shikamaru." Temari grumbled while stroking her son's back. "Sometimes I don't even think I'm a mother. I haven't gone through hell like the others."

"Don't lie. You love it." Shikamaru pulled his wife into a slight cuddle and kissed her forehead. "Enjoy the peace now. We may not have it when Shikadai starts acting up."

"Why would he?"

"I married you. I would know."

"Shikamaru…"

"Enjoy the peace." Shikamaru sighed and gazed up at the clouds. "I can't believe it. Three years and those two boys are coming back. I wonder if they can adjust to a few new faces."

"I'm sure they can. Not that much has changed. By the way, what are you going to do with them when they come back?"

"I got a few pointers from Kakashi. I want to evaluate them first before they can start working as a three man squad again."

Shikamaru wanted to make sure they wouldn't fall apart as a team. That's how his genin team started. He trained Kinako for three years and she knew the jig was up today. That's why she was off training instead of getting ready to see her best friends. Shikamaru was proud of her now. She became a chunin after joining with two other genin and winning the entire tournament of the third round. She was getting stronger each day.

Except he didn't realize Kinako was getting back from her training early and she interrupted their little quiet time.

"Oops! I'm so sorry sensei!" Kinako gasped and she tried to run. It was futile. Shikadai woke up and started bawling.

"Well...there goes my peace." Shikamaru sighed and addressed his fifteen year old pupil. "Kinako, did Kiba decide to finish training early?"

"Yeah. He has a date with Tamaki." Kinako gradually grew used to the cat-loving woman. At first, her little teenage heart was crushed when Kiba fell in love with Tamaki. He asked her for girl advice and requests to bake sweets for Tamaki. Kinako would get mad at him for using her as his personal bakery and she smartly traded these requests for training hours. After a while, she grew used to the fact that Kiba has fallen in love and he only loved Kinako as family. Now, she found them to be cute together. Besides, she will always be Kiba's cute adopted sister who he dotes on.

Kinako noticed Shikadai being fussy. "Oh my, I didn't mean to make Shikadai cry. Here, I have some cookies. Does he like cookies?"

Shikadai took a bite, smiled, and started cooing. Temari bounced her son a little and patted his back to get the air out. She was so glad Kinako was around often to help her with Shikadai. Shikamaru was now learning from Shizune about the trades of being an advisor for when Naruto becomes the next Hokage. Since her husband wasn't around a lot, it was nice to have extra help from his student.

Over three years, Kinako has grown to be a cute, teenage girl. She was a bit taller. Her chestnut hair was longer, reaching down to her chest, and her pigtails were now slightly braided before being tied off. Another noticeable change were her ears as she wore ringed earrings. She wore a short white kimono with mid length sleeves. The kimono had green and black designs going down the side. She still wore a black belt and a large shinobi bag hung off it on her backside. She wore black tights, knee high boots, and fingerless gloves. Even though she has grown up and looked so different, she was still as cheerful as she was three years ago. Her excitement showed as she reminisced about her teammates.

"I can't wait to see Shun-kun and Ryuu-kun! It's been so long." Kinako excitedly said as she was bouncing Shikadai. "I can't wait to show them my new tricks. They're going to be so surprised!"

"I'm sure they are just as excited to see you." Temari reassured her. "So Kinako-chan, how do you think your teammates are going to react to you? You've changed so much."

"Let's see...knowing Ryuu-kun, he's going to think I've gotten cuter. And if I got cuter, than Sanae must have gotten really bombshell hot. That would be his train of thought. And Shun-kun...I don't know. I think he'll be more interested in my ninja abilities."

Shikamaru immediately answered her concerns. "We'll see. They're coming back soon. I can sense them."

OoOoO

"Naruto-sensei, aren't you excited to see your new son?" Ryuu asked.

Ryuu also grew a bit taller over three years. His long hair was no longer in a ponytail, but untied and freely out for the world to see. He wore a longer and darker blue raincoat yet it was not buttoned up all the way. He also wore longer and looser pants. Another noticeable feature was that attached to his shinobi bag was a scroll. But what matured the most was his face as it was longer and more pronounced. He no longer had the genin baby face. And his Konoha headband was placed proudly on his forehead.

"Yeah." Naruto nervously replied. "I hope Hinata won't be too mad that I skipped out on raising our kid."

"Can't be as bad as Sasuke. He hasn't even visited Sakura."

"Yeah...the bastard. By the way, where did Shun say he'll rendezvous with us?"

"He said he was waiting for us in the forests 30 km away from Konoha." Ryuu replied and suddenly bumped into his friend hanging upside down.

Shun glared at him as he got off from the branch he hung on. "I sent you that message over two hours ago. It took you that long to get here?"

"Why is that you guys use messenger hawks to deliver messages? We have cell phones for a reason!" Ryuu shot back. "Your name still holds true after all these years, Dead Last!"

"Wow. I haven't seen you in three years and you still act like an idiot." Shun merely scoffed. "And you're shorter than me still."

"No! You're the short one here!"

Shun also changed just as much as Ryuu. In fact, he was just as tall as Ryuu, probably even the same height. He still had his messy dark hair. Unfortunately, he still had a cute baby face. He wore a dark grey hoodie and a chunin vest over it. He also had on long black pants with belts that wrapped along his right leg. Hanging off both of his sides were scroll holders and they contained two scrolls.

"Now. Now. Play nice. You're both fifteen years old now." Naruto tried to mediate both of them. They could possibly be worse than him and Sasuke. "Okay. Let's get back to Konoha."

Surprisingly, Ryuu and Shun shrugged it off and started chatting as they took their walk back. Naruto found this relationship to be strange. They could be fighting at one second and be best friends in another.

"So...hows it been? Three years huh?" Ryuu measured himself against Shun. "You're just as tall as me!"

"You look a little girly…"

"No! Look at me!" Ryuu ripped apart his raincoat, showing his toned abs. "I'm ripped."

"Gate Jumper, put your clothes back on." Shun sighed. "That was the longest mission I ever had. I don't think I can handle a long term one like that again."

"You're just complaining because you had to go undercover." Ryuu replied with a smirk. "I enjoyed quite an extravagant life on the main island."

"I had to do more work!"

"I had to keep the Mizukage forces in check!"

"Guys…" Naruto's annoyed voice rang over them.

"Sorry sensei!"

"So what did you have to do while undercover? I don't know how to you managed to get the last gang to turn over to the main island. They were so troublesome to deal with from the other side." Ryuu asked. "I remembered Ayame getting all fussy over my opponent from the Chunin Exams."

"It took a while. But it helped that Akai was basically head of the island after his father died." Ryuu said. "And you know the rest."

While Akai was getting treated, the island guerilla forces managed to break in and rescue him. However, during the rescue operation, Akai's father died. After bringing back Kuromo to the Mist, Shun immediately sought out his teammates, specifically Akai, the guy who fought Ryuu. Akai turned out to be more important in his mission than he ever thought. So Shun fought his way to the top of Akai's government ranks and relayed all his information to Sasuke. Then, with this knowledge passing around, they would try to come up with suitable negotiations to annex the rogue island into the main island. They had a nice system going on until Ayame decided to infiltrate the island herself.

"Oh yeah...that Ayame girl was a huge troublesome hassle." Ryuu groaned. "I had to deal with her sister and her teammates. They wanted to go in and I had to hold them back. Then, I had to be in a team with them to rescue her." However, Sasuke and Naruto gave the order for Ryuu to stand back and command his team from afar because they didn't want the rogue islands to discover Konoha was assisting the Mist and that a shinobi with a rare kekkei genkai was there.

Because Ayame decided to infiltrate a powerful island without backup, she was easily captured. Shun was forced to reveal his identity to her and basically prevent her from getting executed. And then, he had to make sure she revealed nothing to Akai when the boy personally visited to interrogate her. Shun didn't witness the interrogations, but it involved a lot of mud as he heard. But he also heard that while Ayame was usually cussing out Akai, they sometimes got along and talked about a lot of things in private. In fact, when their conversations got too long, some people started thinking Akai was getting soft on his prisoner. Occasionally, Shun would catch Ayame blushing a little after she debriefed him on their conversations, which is mostly just her insulting him even more. Then again, she did have a habit of crushing on people too fast so he dismissed it.

Then, for a few days, Shun lost access to Ayame. This prompted Yuuichi and Hana to launch their rescue mission. That was when the situation really started getting interesting…

Yuuichi and Hana drop down from their hiding spots and captured both Akai and Shun as they were walking around in the private house. Yuuichi got hold of Shun, but he was already debriefed that Shun was undercover. However, he kept hold of Shun to maintain his cover. Hana, on the other hand, wanted the big fish, Akai, for herself. It was her sister after all. She twisted his arm behind his back and held a kunai to his neck.

"You make any sudden moves and I will slit your throat." Hana growled into his ear. "Now talk: where is my little sister?"

Akai said nothing. He refused to look at her.

Ayame suffered too much already. She's been a hostage for six months already and her torture was because of this asshole. Hana narrowed her eyes and brought the kunai closer. "If you don't talk, I will kill you and find her myself."

"Hana! Stop it!"

A vine suddenly whipped at Hana's hand, causing her to drop her kunai. Ayame suddenly appeared from a hallway. She was perfectly fine. In fact, she didn't even look like a prisoner of six months. She was dressed in a simple, pink kimono and she looked very clean unlike a typical prisoner. Ayame ran up to Akai, protecting him from her sister.

"Are you hurt, Akai?" Ayame asked before turning to her sister. "Hana! Don't hurt him, okay? Please!"

"Wh-What? Aya! He's the enemy." Hana backed away. "What's wrong with you? Do you realize he held you captive for six months? Six months!?"

"I know. But I can explain!"

"What's there to explain? He kept you captive and he's been extorting information out of you."

"No he hasn't. He never tried to extort anything from me." Ayame took a deep breath. "I've been telling him everything. He wants the same thing as us...reunification of the islands."

"What?"

"I swear I did not see that coming." Shun whispered to Yuuichi.

Akai finally got up and he held tightly onto Ayame's hand. "I never tortured her for information. I would never do that...because I…"

"Oh crap. Don't tell me."

"Hana," Ayame blushed. "I love him okay! I really do!"

"That I did see coming."

Long story short, Akai's father was leading the resistance against the main island. With him out of the equation and gaining the trust of his son, dissolving the resistance became easy pickings for the team. The last island was finally annexed into the Mist, allowing for Ryuu and Shun to finish their mission and go home. Shun remembered the time that the official annexation documents were signed. Once it was determined that tensions were finally over, the first thing that happened was Ayame throwing herself at Akai for a tight hug. Good thing they found their happy ending.

"I wonder how those two lovers are holding up." Shun mused on.

"Eh. They should be fine. I'm just worried if Mud Boy can withstand Hana. She still doesn't trust him." Ryuu merely shook off. "It just sucks you had more fun than me."

"Well, we couldn't risk you getting captured. They would have recruited you into their ranks by force." Shun pointed out. "When I was there, everyone wanted your blood and a restart of the Yuki clan."

"I know. I know. Last of my clan privileges. Besides, even if I was captured, I still won't join them. Hell, I don't think I'll stay here for their plans. I'm a Konoha ninja! Konoha is my home!"

"Yeah. Yeah. I know." Shun rolled his eyes.

"What about your love life? Did you ever confess to her?"

"...no…"

"Wimp."

"Shut up!" Shun retorted, "By the way, we're back."

"Wow! This place has really changed." Ryuu exclaimed, taking in all the advancements of the village.

"Alright guys, I'm going to turn in our reports to the Sixth. You guys can relax and enjoy yourselves." Naruto said and he sprinted off towards the Hokage building.

"Whew! Finally!" Ryuu stretched out. "Let's get something to eat. I'm starving!"

"We come back here and the first thing you want is food…" Shun said, but his stomach suddenly growled.

Ryuu smirked and grabbed his friend. "Let's go and see what's in the market."

And so the two friends walked into the main streets of Konoha. Although so many new things were being built, the shops and restaurants remained relatively unchanged. But when Ryuu and Shun stumbled past their former team's favorite barbecue place, they were pleasantly surprised by who they saw coming out.

"Hey! It's…"

Shun recognized that pineapple hair anywhere. But he definitely recognized the teenage girl with him. She turned around and gazed onto them with her familiar emerald eyes that soon closed from her smiling too hard. Ryuu even had to take a double take because he couldn't believe it too. Those eyes he once feared, once distrusted, even hated, were one of the most relieving sights to see here.

Kinako finally saw them. Her two boys!

"Ryuu! Shun!" Kinako cried and hugged them both to death. "It's been so long! I missed you guys so much!"

"Kina-chan! Wow!" Ryuu exclaimed. "You've gotten...taller...and cuter."

"You look beautiful-I mean you look like you!" Shun mindlessly said, but then coughed out of embarrassment. "It's a good you!"

"Aww! Thank you!" Kinako gleamed and patted both of their heads. "You guys got taller too! I used to be bigger than you guys. Now I feel so short."

"Heh. Do you think we look manlier?" Ryuu smirked at her.

"Nah. You may look different, but I know you." Kinako said with a giggle, earning a scowl from Ryuu. "By the way, did you know Shikamaru-sensei has a kid now!?"

"Yeah we heard. Can't wait to see him." Shun said and shot a rare smile to Shikamaru. "Congratulations on your son."

"Thanks." Shikamaru said and then coughed. "Well, let's get some housekeeping out of the way now that you are here. Now that all of you are chunin, you guys can form your own official three man squad. Shun, I will assign you to be the squad leader. And also, I have a little test for you guys."

"What!? We just got here!" Ryuu complained.

"You two are hungry, aren't you?" Kinako interjected, but it earned a silent nod from Shun.

"You still got it." Shun said, amused that she could still read them after three years.

They still complain a lot. That didn't change. Shikamaru sighed, "Fine. Do you want to see Shikadai?"

"Yes sensei!" They all chorused out and began to take off in the direction of the Nara household. They also couldn't wait to see their other sensei, Temari.

"Ha! I'm going to beat you there, Dead Last!" Ryuu took off.

"I won't be defeated by the likes of you!" Shun also sprinted after him.

However, both boys were surpassed by Kinako's fast flickering form. She gave a teasing smirk and turned around to sprint away, "Better catch up boys!"

Shikamaru watched his former genin team good heartedly mess around with each other. He groaned at first because they were acting like twelve year olds again, but smiled because it reminded him of the good old times. As dysfunctional and troublesome they were, he was glad to be in a team with them. The sensei, future Hokage advisor, and father followed after his students, relishing this small moment he had with them. His journey was over with these kids and he expected them to grow without his help. Shun was on his way to being a great leader. He could command his own battalion of ninjas one day. He could even become Hokage if he wanted to. Ryuu was going to be a strong ninja. He could have a legacy, a name for his infamy like the Yellow Flash or the Copycat Ninja. And of course, Kinako, she was the one who grew the most. The possibilities for her were endless. She could be anything she wanted as long as she put her mind to it. In the future, Shikamaru just wanted her to be happy with what she did in her life. Although secretly, he wished for Kinako to work for Interrogations...she has a natural gift only seen every hundred of years.

Shikamaru look forward to seeing his students after their first mission, after their second, after one year, two years, a decade, when they grow into adults, when they find love, when they start families of their own, and when their kids can continue their Will of Fire.

Their adventures have only just begun…

End

Whoo! And that's a wrap!

I tried my best to incorporate every important character into this final chapter and I tried to wrap up any loose ends. I never did touch on Shikamaru and Temari's past, but then again, I didn't on purpose because that was a thing of the past and they are trying to move forward. I also tried to put in all the kids as best as I can. Unfortunately, Himawari didn't make it because she's younger than the generation of genin kids. she's probably gonna be conceived after this chapter. Also, I left the romance of our main genin unresolved because I always wanted friendship to be the main theme between them. Maybe Shun will finally confess to Kinako in the future and maybe Kinako will start dating...who knows? But I was always shipping Ayame and Akai!

Anyways, that's the end of this story. Signing off!