A/N: Hi all! Time to start wrapping things up. Try and hear the voices again - Naruto's and Kakashi's. Try and see their faces in your mind. No warnings this time. Just enjoy.

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The morning came early; they woke to hear Naruto already up rattling around in the kitchen. Something smelled good. In his unmistakable voice, they heard Naruto yell, "Sasuke! Raylin! I'm putting on some eggs. Get up and eat something!"

Raylin turned lazily to Sasuke, "Did we get engaged last night?"

Sasuke said, "I do seem to remember something like that, yes."

"Good, I didn't want to think I was dreaming."

"I'm starving."

"Me too. Let's go join our host." They ate together, cleaned up, got dressed, and almost an hour, there was a knock at the door. Naruto opened and Kakashi strolled in.

"Yo. How'd everybody make out last night? Oops, sorry, bad pun." He got three large eye rolls and a couple of groans from that one.

Naruto blurted, "They got engaged last night. Loudly I might add." Kakashi eyed Sasuke. Then he turned his attention to Raylin.

Raylin said, "We weren't that loud were we?"

Naruto said, "Not until all that YES YES YES you were yelling that kept me awake!" Kakashi's eye got huge as he was obviously thinking something totally different than what Naruto was describing.

Naruto noticed his reaction and said, "She said yes over and over to his proposal Kakashi. Jeez, you're as bad as Ero-Senin."

Kakashi cleared his throat and said, "Yes. Well then. Congratulation you two. I've come to escort you to Hokage's quarters. She'd like to go over some things with you." All four left and were soon with Hokage. Sakura was there as well as Shizune. Raylin was dropped there with the medical ninja while Sasuke left with Naruto and Kakashi.

Tsunade called to Raylin, "Come in Raylin, we've got work to do. Shizune, Sakura, we're going to test Raylin's medical knowledge. No doubt she knows a lot since she trained with Orochimaru. Let's see what she knows." Raylin passed every test Sakura threw at her. Then she passed every one Shizune had her try. Finally, Tsunade her self stepped in and said, "You can't know this," and was shocked when Raylin could repeat the medical jutsu she showed her perfectly.

Raylin asked, "Hokage, what is the mark on your forehead for?"

"I compress and store my unused chakra there for future use. I can use it to regenerate my body and heal it from damage."

"That would be very useful in battle I'd assume."

"It has been, against Orochimaru none the less."

"I'd like to learn it if I may."

"It's something I invented."

"I know Hokage. But I can learn anything. Will you teach it to me?"

"I will, because if you're going to be up against Akatsuke, you're going to need it." Raylin learned it that afternoon and started sporting a black diamond on her forehead after that. Kakashi was shocked she'd learned it so quickly. Everyone was shocked.

Later that day, Kakashi took Sasuke aside. He asked him, "Do you feel overshadowed by her? She's an amazingly powerful woman. She can do things you can only dream about. How do you handle her being so powerful, possibly the most powerful person to ever walk this earth?"

"She loves me."

"Ah. So power doesn't matter anymore to you."

"Sure it matters, but she's got enough for ten of me and then some. I hope she gets a hundred times stronger than she is now. I hope she can crack mountains and part oceans. I'd never hold her back or envy her. She is more to me than that. I love her, that's all that matters. I'm strong enough."

"Sasuke how you've grown. I'm glad you got the results you wanted. I'm really glad you came back home."

"Yeah, me too Kakashi."

"You two going to have kids?"

"Yeah, eventually. We'd like to build up the clan again. But for now, we're just going to earn some trust back and take out those Akatsuke bastards. Then we'll worry about things after that."

"Sounds like a plan. Hey, there's Sakura and Raylin."

Raylin ran over to Sasuke and hugged him. "I learned so much today! Look," she pointed at her diamond, "I learned that today. The 5th's technique for regeneration. That way I can heal myself in battle."

Sasuke touched the end of his finger to the diamond on her forehead that caught the sunlight. "That's excellent. I wish I could learn that. Hey Sakura. It's good to see you again."

"You too Sasuke. Well, I'd better be going."

Sasuke said, "Sakura wait."

"Yes?"

"Listen, Raylin stay here with me ok? I need to tell Sakura something." He walked over to Sakura and said, "Sakura, when I left here and you tried to stop me, I thanked you for caring about me. I couldn't return your feelings. I was incapable of doing that. I didn't remember what love was. But I've found it again. It is real, and I'm in a really good place right now. I just wanted to let you know that. And I wanted to thank you again, because you tried, and you were one of the people I remembered who really did care about me, no matter where I was from, or what I had done. Thank you Sakura. I mean it."

"You're welcome Sasuke." Sasuke stepped forward and hugged Sakura. That was the exact right thing for him to do at that exact moment. Sakura knew he really meant it now. Her inner Sakura screamed, "OH YEAH, FINALLY HUGGING SASUKE AND HE STARTED IT!" As he released her, she smiled at him and said, "I'd better go. I'm glad you're home and safe Sasuke. You're one lucky guy," she said pointing at Raylin.

"I know. Thanks Sakura. See you tomorrow?"

"You bet. Later!"

Sasuke took Raylin's hand. Sakura looked back at them as she walked away – she could tell he really loved that girl. She'd heard they got engaged – loudly – at Naruto's last night. She was happy for him, and Raylin.

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A/N: Coming down to the end folks. I feel a happy ending coming on. 1 more chapter, then I'll post a quick epilogue just to wrap it all up. I hope you've liked it. It's been a pleasure.

Next up: The 5th offers Raylin a new position, and what ends up happening to the Akatsuke members? Also, the Uchiha's move forward. See you soon!