[A/N: Updates to Turning Points are probably going to be a bit slow through November, because I'm working on Cruel World Be Forgiving, but I'm still keeping up with this. I hope you enjoy this chapter!]

Chapter 26: The Aftermath

Even after the fighting was over, it was a few weeks before the village was back to normal. There were numerous repairs to be made, as much of the fighting had occurred in the village itself. Most of it had been confined to the area near the arena, which was nearly destroyed.

Besides that, the village had been left without a leader. The funeral service for the Hokage was a stark reminder of that.

Sasuke placed a flower before the small memorial in his turn, guilty that he wasn't feeling more sorrowful even though he had hardly known the Hokage. All the Konoha shinobi were standing in ranks under the pouring rain, which seemed to reflect the mood of most. Sakura was in tears, and he squeezed her hand in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. As Sasuke stole a glance over at the newly-formed Team 8, he saw that Hinata was crying as well, as Kiba uncomfortably patted her on the back.

After the service ended, everyone wandered off, lost in their own thoughts. Sasuke considered trying to go after Hinata, but didn't want to get her in trouble; there were far too many Hyuuga around, including Neji. Sasuke didn't want to know how the older boy would react to discovering him and Hinata together.

Sasuke finally ended up at one of the training fields he had frequented just before the exams, back when he ran for cover every time Team 7 came near him. It was amazing how many things had changed in less than three months, he thought as he sank to the ground under one of the sprawling trees and leaned back against the trunk. The rain was beginning to die down, and a few rays of sunlight were striking the benevolent stone face of the Third looking down from the Hokage Mountain in the distance.

"So I'm not alone anymore. How troublesome."

Sasuke jumped, the old instinct to flee rushing back for an instant. Looking up, he saw Shikamaru lying on the wide branch above him.

The other genin raised one hand in a lazy wave. "Shougi?"

"Well…" Sasuke wasn't sure how to reply to the abrupt invitation. "I've never played before." He and Itachi had sometimes played Go when they had enough time to spare for such frivolous things, but that was all.

Shikamaru shrugged and sat up so there was enough room on the branch for two. "I'll teach you. No one else wants to play right now and I need to."

Sasuke quickly scrambled up the tree to sit across from Shikamaru. He wasn't sure how Shikamaru had managed to produce a shougi board in the few seconds it took, but then Shikamaru was always doing things one didn't expect.

It was quickly obvious that Sasuke was truly terrible at the game, but Shikamaru was a patient teacher and the mundane activity was a welcome distraction for both of them. By a few hours later, Sasuke had improved slightly, but that was still not even close to providing a challenge for Shikamaru's almost frightening talent for the game. "Have you ever entered a shougi tournament?" he asked as he puzzled over a move. "You could be famous or something."

"Who wants to be famous?" Shikamaru retorted. "I just play for fun. Having anything invested in it would ruin everything."

"I see," Sasuke replied, deciding on his move. As soon as the piece was down he realized that he had left himself completely open to a counter-attack, but it was too late to change it. At least here he could learn from his mistakes without everything being life-and-death.

Shikamaru was finally called away when his teammates arrived, leaving Sasuke alone again. The rain had completely stopped now, so Sasuke headed back into the main part of the village.

The atmosphere in Konoha was rather confused. It was as if the citizens couldn't decide between rejoicing that the war had ended with a victory or sorrow that their Hokage and so many others were dead. There had been the same sort of uncomfortable shadow over the festivities at the wild Inuzuka party, right after the fighting ended. Mostly, everyone just wanted to distract themselves, like Shikamaru and his shougi.

The village movie theatre seemed to be doing record business showing old action films and romance movies. Sasuke almost went over as well, but remembered that he still didn't have any money. Hopefully Team 7 would go on some proper missions soon; it was quite embarrassing forcing his friends to treat him all the time.

"Hey, Sasuke."

Sasuke resisted the urge to duck away; he and Kiba were, while not exactly bosom friends, getting on much better than they had been.

"Going to the movies?" Kiba asked, coming up beside him. Akamaru trotted briskly at his side. Looking at the dog now, no one would know that he had nearly lost a leg three weeks ago.

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't have any money."

"No way, even with the 'last heir' thing and all? I should have thought you'd inherit something."

"So did I. But since there haven't been any Uchiha around, all the money went into the custody of the village. I can't get at it for another few years."

Kiba sighed in mock disappointment. "And there go all my hopes of having a rich friend I can leech off of…"

Sasuke punched him lightly in the shoulder and they scuffled playfully for a few seconds before the remembrance of what had happened that morning settled again.

Sighing, Kiba sat down on the curb, resting his chin in his hands. "You know, it's hard to believe the Third's actually gone…" Akamaru sank down at Kiba's feet, setting his head on the boy's shoe as if to comfort him through the contact.

Sasuke sat down beside him. "Hey, Kiba," he began tentatively, "can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure, what?"

"So…the Hokage…See, I've been in a few other ninja villages, but mostly it seems that the Kage rule by fear." Suna and Kiri were prime examples of this; Itachi had once or twice taken a mission for their respective Kage which involved 'disposing of unwelcome elements'. "But everyone here seems to have really admired the Hokage, so…I don't really know what I'm trying to ask."

"No, I see what you mean," Kiba replied. "The Third…he said that the whole village was his family, and everyone could tell he meant it. He was like everyone's grandfather, or uncle, or something. After the Kyuubi attack—you know about that, right?"

Sasuke nodded. It was difficult not to have heard of a disaster of that magnitude, even if one had spent most of one's life several countries away from where it occurred.

"Well, the Fourth Hokage died during the battle. After that, the Third came back from his retirement and really put the village back together. Most every shinobi here would do, I mean, would have done, anything for him."

After that, there wasn't really anything to say. They stayed sitting there for a while, Kiba gently stroking Akamaru and Sasuke occasionally kicking at one of the pebbles in the street.

They only realized how late it had gotten when one of Hana's rangy gray dogs bounded up and growled a message to Kiba.

"Ichirou says that Hana wants us to come back for dinner," Kiba relayed, standing up and brushing himself off. At the word 'dinner', Akamaru had bounded to his feet and expectantly trotted a few steps down the road.

Sasuke trailed behind as the three of them returned to the Inuzuka compound. The clan of dog-warriors were all friendly, but they had a habit of forgetting that he didn't know how to communicate with the dogs. Hana and Kiba would translate for him, and Tsume sometimes remembered to, but often he ended up feeling a bit left out.

He missed Naruto's apartment, and wondered how the other boy was doing. Naruto had been devastated to hear of the death of the Third, and the memorial service this morning would have brought all that back.

Dinner was a solemn affair that evening. No one wanted to be the first one to speak, so everyone ended up eating their food in silence. Later, Sasuke couldn't even remember what they had eaten.

After helping Hana with the dishes, Sasuke slipped out and left the compound. The sun was nearly set, but he could find his way through the streets easily now and hurried to his destination.

Apparently Sakura had had the same idea, for he ran into her a few blocks away from Naruto's apartment. She smiled at Sasuke a little self-consciously, and gestured toward the basket of food she was carrying. "I, um, thought I would bring Naruto something to eat…he probably forgot, what with everything…"

Considering Naruto's near-worship of ramen, Sasuke didn't think that things would ever get quite that bad, but thought it very kind of Sakura all the same. The door was a little ajar, to let the evening breeze in, and Sakura tapped politely on the doorjamb before entering, Sasuke following close behind.

Naruto was sitting at the kitchen table with his back to the door, staring mopily into a cup of ramen. As the door opened, he jumped in surprise, nearly knocking his ramen over. "Sakura-chan! Sasuke!" he greeted them, smiling in his usual cheerful manner. "Wow, is that for me?" he asked, seeing the basket Sakura held.

"Naruto-kun?" Sakura said in some bewilderment as she set the basket on the table. "Are you all right?"

Naruto began rummaging through the basket. "Sure, I'm fine," he replied, looking up briefly, but there was a shadow in his eyes now. "Nothing's going to get me down, you know? I'm going to become the Hokage for sure, and protect everyone here!"

"Naruto-kun…" Sakura whispered.

"We'll be with you," Sasuke promised. "All the way."

Naruto smiled sunnily. "Then with you helping me, I'll be the best Hokage ever! Come on, share this with me," he added, starting to lay out the food on the table.

At Naruto's insistence, both Sasuke and Sakura stayed to eat, and after that to play board games, and after that to have a battle royale in the living room that nearly destroyed Naruto's defenseless ramen couch. Eventually they were all too tired to keep playing and collapsed across what was left of the furniture or on the floor.

Somehow, Sasuke could almost feel that things were going back to normal now, even though they might never be the same as they had been. Besides that, he had a future to look forward to.