Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or gain any money from writing stories about them.
A/N: Sorry it will be taking a little between chapters. I now have a full time job and having to deal with my teen turning into a delinquent is stressing me out so much I want to strangle her, wringing her neck just to hear if her head jingles like a damn bell. I'm so close in putting her into a boot camp it's pathetic. She's gotten sticky finger syndrome and now I'm hating the fact that her aunt is rubbing off on her and wish majorly she wasn't. That's the only way she learned how to steal since I hate thieves. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy these chapters as I can hopefully get them out quicker once everything including the holidays settles.
Inuyasha16451: I'm glad you loved it.
Melyway: I actually think I could have probably done better but then of course that is just me thinking that.
Cassiejones07: I know it seems like I'm just stopping it at the best moments, but you got to love cliff hangers. They tend to keep readers coming back for more.
Emowoods205: You just have to continue reading to find out. I'm glad I interested you in this story and will continue to trying my best to keep your interest up.
Breaking6883: I am glad you love it, the kits I will be making a huge scene for when they meet their father. I hope I will make it even more interesting since it seems like I'm getting more new readers.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Yahiko was staring out into the rain as Nagato hugged his dead puppy, crying. "Nagato…quit crying!" He yells at the boy over his shoulder. "If you just cry about it, nothing'll ever change, just like the rain, but I'm going to change this country! And I need strength, not just words!" He shouted out as he dipped his head back and stared up into the rain, allowing the drops to flood his eyes, hiding his own tears. "I need to learn to become a Ninja!"
~3~
"We began searching for a Ninja, and we found the Ninja that had fought Hanzo. We found Jiraiya," Nagato tells her as his very sickly face is intently watching her as she listened to him fully.
~3~
"What do you kids want!?" Jiraiya asked them around the food in his mouth. Nagato stared at the trio, hiding behind the rocky walls of the cave as Yahiko went to talk to them. He had flashbacks from the two Konoha Ninjas that accidentally killed his parents.
~3~
"You…should understand," Nagato says as Naruto stares at the ground, her emotions swirling around inside of her.
~3~
"Should we kill them?" Orochimaru asks.
"Wha!?" Yahiko squeaks out.
"I've seen a lot of war orphans and it's a cruel life. They'd be better off if we just killed them now," the black haired male tells his teammates.
"Stop it, Orochimaru! You and Tsunade head home, I'm gonna stay with these kids for a while," Jiraiya tells them.
"Huh!?" Tsunade murmurs.
"Just until they can take care of themselves better, it's the least I can do," he tells her and takes the three children to a dry abode and fed them, laughing at their antics.
"But Jiraiya felt different," Nagato tells her.
~3~
"Not long after the four of us began living together, something happened," he told her as he stared into her dark blue eyes.
"What?" Naruto asks.
~3~
"A lone Ninja attacked us. He nearly killed Yahiko, but I fought back. I did it all unconsciously…Apparently I had some special power, it was the Rinnegan. Jiraiya hadn't been keen to teach us to be Ninjas before, but after that he began teaching us the Ninja techniques. He said they were for self defense, but I think it was mainly a way for me to control the Rinnegan. I was scared of my own powers, I was filled with hatred. I was tormented by guilt, convinced I'd done something wrong, but he saved me," Nagato tells her.
"I don't know if it was right or wrong myself," Jiraiya tells the young boy. "But thanks to you, Yahiko is still alive. You saved him, you did what was right." Jiraiya smiles at him. "No one is blaming you."
~3~
"Without even realizing it, I'd come to accept him. This is what he said, "When people get hurt, they learn to hate. When people hurt others, they become hated and are racked with guilt"," Nagato says as he remembers Jiraiya's words. "But knowing that pain allows people to be kind, pain allows people to grow and how you grow up is up to you. You know pain, you think about it, and the answer you find it is up to you. He said it almost as if to himself, he hadn't found his answer, just like you. But I knew my answer right away."
~3~
"I just want to protect them, no matter how much pain it causes," Nagato said as he hugged his legs.
"I see," Jiraiya smiles at him.
"Master, what are you always thinking about?" Nagato asked him.
"This world is filled with war, hatred is everywhere. I think about how I want to change that. I wonder what peace is, I want to know the answer." Jiraiya tells him honestly.
"After three years of training, we'd grown stronger in mind and body, but his words stayed within me, stuck in my heart. He said he felt like my Rinnegan could be the answer," Nagato explains.
"Long ago, people were always at war. There was no end to it, it was even worse than now," Jiraiya told the boy as he stood out in the rain with his back to the boy. "Then a single priest appeared. He was the first to divine the true meaning of Chakra, and he tried to lead the world to peace. They say he travelled the world spreading his religion. Time passed and eventually that religion became our Ninja techniques. Being a Ninja was not about making war, but about bringing peace. That priest was called the Sage of the Six Realms. They called him the Messiah, and he had the same Rinnegan as you. "I am here to provide peace and order," he said. "He must have believed the day would come when people would truly understand one another. Maybe, he has been reborn in you. I feel like his hopes rest in your eyes."
~3~
"He entrusted me with that peace, and then he left us," Nagato said as his eyes started to stare back at his memories. "Yahiko became our leader. Our gang grew famous overnight. Everyone agreed with our desire to create peace without relying on brute force, but the world was still in the middle of the war between the three great countries of stone, sand, and leaf. Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure, heard the rumors and approached us. He could no longer afford to ignore us. He said he wanted to use us to begin peace negotiations between the three great countries. He believed we could get the three countries to agree to a peace treaty. We decided to help him, but that was a catastrophe. We were just children."
"A catastrophe? Wh-what happened!?" Naruto asked as her eyes widened and she looked straight up at him while Konan just stared at the girl with a depressed solemn glance.
"Because of him, Yahiko died," Nagato told him as he stared at her with pain filled eyes.
"Died?" Naruto almost squeaked out.
"It was all a trap. Hanzo was afraid we would wrest control of Amegakure from him. Because of him, Yahiko…"
~3~
"The next day when we arrived at the assigned place, Konoha's black ops were waiting along with Hanzo and his minions. Hanzo had joined forces with Konoha's Danzo to obliterate us. Danzo wanted Hanzo's help in becoming Hokage, and Hanzo wanted Danzo's help in protecting his position," Nagato and Yahiko looked up on the cliff in the pouring rain where Hanzo held Konan captive.
"Damn it!" Yahiko grit out.
"Your gang is a hindrance to my plans. Yahiko, as the leader, you will die here today," Hanzo said as he whipped out a Kunai and placed it under Konan's chin. "If you don't, this girl will get it. You there with the red hair, use this to kill him. If you do, I'll let this girl free." A Kunai suddenly stabs the ground right besides the two making them stare at it.
"Don't, Nagato! Don't worry about me. You two get out of here!" Konan shouts at the two as she panics and struggles in Hanzo's grasp.
"Nagato," Yahiko calls to his friend as he watches him stare at the Kunai. "Kill me," he says when the darker red head stares at him.
'I just want to protect them, no matter how much pain it causes,' the memory of him speaking to Jiraiya and telling him this flashes through his brain.
"Nagato!" Yahiko yells at him.
"Don't do it!" Konan shouts at him.
"You'd better hurry unless you want the girl to die!" Hanzo says as he stares down at the young man who leans down and takes the Kunai out of the ground. Nagato stares down at the Kunai as he pants, not realizing Yahiko started rushing towards him, until his friend grabs the wrist of the hand that hold the Kunai and turns it so when his body gets closer it stabs into Yahiko.
"You and Konan, you've gotta stay alive somehow…you…are…the messiah. You…can…really…" He whispers into Nagato's ear, his voice getting weaker by the second.
"Yahiko!" Konan screams out as tears rush down her cheeks, watching as Yahiko's body falls to the ground.
"That was the second source of my pain. I thought I had grown, but nothing had changed. It was just the same as when my parents died. I realized my answer was worthless," Nagato said as he relived the moment where his best friend died by his own hands even if it wasn't willingly. Konan fell to her knees right besides Hanzo, crying hard as she looked down at the ground.
"Kill him!" Hanzo says and every one of the Ninja's started to throw their Kunai at the young Nagato as he stood there staring up at them. He kept on remembering all the things Yahiko said to him when they were younger about becoming a God and when the Kunai were five feet from him he raised his hand and stopped their progression towards him.
"He repelled them!?" One Ninja asked.
"How!?" Another wondered out loud. Suddenly, Nagato crouched quickly before repelling himself off of the ground to jump towards Hanzo who saw his approach and quickly jumped out of the way. He landed further away from Nagato, sliding on the ground as he comes to a stop, slamming his hand on the ground so that paper bombs would attach to Nagato's legs, making the young man's eyes widen before the explosion went off.
"Did we get him?" Hanzo asked as they all stared at the smoke from the explosion. Nagato drops Konan to the ground as he yanks the rope from around her wrists, staring at them with furious eyes as his legs continue to burn.
"Nagato!" Konan cries out as she looks up at him.
"Konan, hold on to Yahiko and just stay put," he tells her before he turns back to look up at the cliff where he was before the bombs went off.
"Not bad, kid! I'm surprised you were able to escape my fire attack!" Hanzo said as he was starting to see the young man better through the smoke that is now clearing. He stared down at the boys legs until he zipped his eyes back up to stare into the boys, his eyes widened. "You're…no ordinary kid…those eyes."
"Kill them all!" One of Konoha's ANBU special black ops shouts to the others. The others jumped down in swarms to kill the last two remaining of the group, but Nagato slams his hand down and summons one of his great beasts.
"What!?" Konan squeaks out a little as she stares at the Gedo Mazo, while it takes out the ANBU. "Nagato, no! Don't!" She cries out, worried about her friend. The big beast slams its huge hand down onto the ground, making it break apart.
"What…the hell is that?" Hanzo wondered as they all stared at the beast who roars into the skies as Nagato roars out. The beast started the push out some metal rods that penetrated Nagato in his spine, causing him to cry out in pain and his face started showing the haggard looks of malnutrition that Naruto and others around Nagato became familiar with. One of the spirit beasts came out of the Gedo Mazo and started stripping everyone of their souls, leaving their dead bodies in the wake. Shocking others as they watched their comrade's fall to the ground, lifeless.
"Don't touch it or you'll die!" One of the Ninja's from the Hidden Rain village shouted out as he tries in vain to get away, scared out of his mind until he too had his soul ripped out of his body. Hanzo stared down at Nagato as he looked rough right about now.
"Nagato," Konan spoke softly to her friend as she watched him.
"So you were the one really pulling the strings! Your Rinnegan surprised me," Hanzo says loudly enough for him to hear, making the young man roar out yet again, sending the spirit beast towards the elder male who quickly uses a Jutsu to avoid it. The dust clears and the Gedo Mazo breaks the rods attached to Nagato's body before it disappears, leaving the young man a much lesser form than before the fight starts, a creepy looking smile on his face.
"Yahiko was dead…After that, I became the leader of our gang in his stead," Nagato took his Kunai and cut into the Hitae Ite to show how he chose to become a rogue Ninja and the start of the Akatsuki.
~3~
Naruto stared at him, speechless since she couldn't even put words to what she knew this man has been through. Words to console him since he was reliving his past. "I lost many more friends in battle after that. So many friends, so many people kept dying. Everyone in the land of Fire crows about peace, but each mission Konohagakure undertakes funds the war. The people of the land of Fire know they are complicit in this war, yet they hypocritically speak of peace. The peace of the big countries is built on the sacrifices of the little countries. Your peace is violence towards us," he stopped as he watched the young woman's eyes fall in shame as she knows this is the truth. "Just by living, people hurt others without even realizing it. As long as people live, so too will hatred. There can be no peace in this cursed land. What Jiraiya spoke of was nothing but a fantasy. Now you have heard my story, so let me hear your answer." He stared at her, waiting patiently for her to tell him what her answer was. She gripped her jacket into her fist, the move shocked Nagato as he stared at her in confusion. She took out the first book that Jiraiya wrote, sorrow covering her face and overwhelming her heart.
"That may be true, I think you're right," she tells him as she remembers what the old man told her.
"Really?" Nagato asks as he is confused as to why she would agree with him since she has fought with him tooth and nail from the beginning of them going after the Jinchuuriki.
"I understand you, but I still can't forgive you, I still hate you," she tells him through gritted teeth as she scrunches her eyes shut, fighting everything inside of her not to go and kill the man this instant.
"Then let's finish this," he tells her.
"But," she interrupts him and the two in front of her held shocked or confused expressions. "That Pervy Sage believed in me, so I…will believe in what he believed in. That is my answer," she says as she shot her glare upwards, staring him in the eyes that widen with her intensity. "So, I…won't kill you," she says and steadily staring at him, her gaze unwavering.
"You will believe in what Jiraiya believed in? I see, so that's your answer," Nagato says as he looked into her deepened blue eyes. "So, should we just sit here and wait for you to bring peace to the world!?" He asked her and waited for a reply that the girl didn't give. "Give me a break! How can I believe Jiraiya now!?" He shouts at her, frustrated at her answer. "There's no such thing as real peace! It's impossible as long as we're living in this accursed world!" Even with him shouting at her, Naruto's gaze doesn't even waver, she just looks straight dead into his eyes.
"Then, I will break the curse. If there's such a thing as peace, I will find it. I won't give up!" She tells him, her voice steady and not even a hint of uncertainty in it.
"You…that's…" Nagato's jaw drops as he saw her strength that flows through her.
"Nagato, what's the matter?" Konan asks as she looks over her shoulder at the man who she has been protecting and trusting since they were children, the confusion written all over her face.
"Those words…" Nagato stops what he was about to say as he recognized the words.
"That's right; those were lines from this book. The first book he ever wrote," she says as she quietly lowered her saddened eyes to stare at the cover of the book. "He wrote this book to try and change the world," when she says this, Konan's eyes widened in shock. "And in the end, he says he was inspired by a pupil of his to write this. That was you, Nagato," after she says this the Rinnegan filled eyes widen as much as it was able, shocked when he heard this.
"What? Is this just a coincidence?" He asks her.
"And…the name of the main character is…" she pauses and stares up at the man through her banks that hang down over her Hitae ite.
~3~
"Master," Nagato says as he walks into the room where Jiraiya was eating.
"What's up?" The elder male asks his pupil.
"Do you…have a minute?" The younger male asks as he slowly sat on the mat on the other side of the table.
"Sure, I was trying to write, but I can't seem to think of anything, so I'm taking a little break to eat," Jiraiya tells him as he takes more noodles out of his bowl. "So, what'd you want?"
"Remember when you were talking about the world's hatred? I've been thinking about that," Nagato tells him.
"Oh, did you come up with a plan?" Jiraiya asks with a full mouth.
"Peace, I don't know how to get there, but…" Nagato pauses and turns to look at Jiraiya. "But someday I'll break the curse. If there's such a thing as peace, I will find it!" As he was listening to the young man, Jiraiya stared to smile as the young man stood up. "Faith is better than any plan!"
"I see, well said. Maybe you're right," suddenly a thought came to Jiraiya's mind, making his eyes widen. "Oh!"
"What is it?" Nagato asks.
"Thanks to you, I think I've got a good idea for a story here! Now! First I've gotta think of a name for the main character," Jiraiya says as he crossed his arms and stared into the giant bowl of ramen that he was eating.
~3~
When Jiraiya left the trio, they all were walking in the rain with sad expressions on their faces. "You can't keep crying forever, Yahiko. We'll see him again someday," Konan tells him.
"Ooh, master," Yahiko sniffled as he trudged along in the middle of his friends. They all entered the house that they stayed in while being trained by Jiraiya and Nagato saw the book left on the table, making his eyes widen as he stared at the title of the book. The other two stared at him in confusion as he slowly picked the book up and opened it.
~3~
Throwing knives were thrown, embedding into the trees in the area. "Why don't you just give up?" The Shinobi cockily tells the hero, who looks just like Nagato who is hiding behind a tree. "I'm tired of playing hide and seek," he taunts as Nagato pulls out the smoke bombs he held in his pouch. He quickly throws the bombs at the Shinobi, whose eyes widen as they started to activate. 'A smoke bomb!' The man thought and noticed something was different, he was attacked inside of the clouds of smoke before he hit Nagato who ended up hitting his knees in front of the Shinobi, panting. "Give up," he tells him.
"Can I say just one thing?" Nagato asks.
"I don't want to hear it, now die!" He shouts and rushes Nagato, when he noticed that the other man isn't showing any pain from his attack, he grits his teeth.
"You should give up," Nagato tells him right before his body disappears right in front of the Shinobi, causing the man's eyes to widen when he felt someone was behind him. "Trying to make me give up," Nagato says as he sends a blow to the back of the guys head.
'Kagebunshin!?' The Shinobi thought as his whole body hit the ground. "Ugh! E-even if you kill me, another assassin will attack the village," he gasps out as he chuckles up at him. "There will be no peace, as long as we live in this accursed world…of Ninja's."
"Then, I will break the curse. If there's such a thing as peace, I will find it! I won't give up!" Nagato tells him as he stared down at the man who barely lifts his head up from the wooden surface of the tree limb the two were on.
"Wh-who are you?" He asks him.
"My name is…"
~3~
"Naruto!" As she shouts the name of the character, Nagato's eyes widen as he remembers the story. "So my name is a precious memento of him! I can't just give up and stomp on this memento! I will become the Hokage! And I'll make sure there's peace for Amegakure, too! Believe in me!" When she stops speaking the two were staring at her, their memories full of everything that happened in the past.
"We studied under the same master; I told you before that we should therefore be able to understand each other. I was just joking then, but…" He stops and both females look at him as he tried to gather exactly what he wanted to say. "You're an odd kid, you remind me of myself when I was younger."
"Nagato," Konan says quietly, suddenly realizing that this girl strikes his heart cords majorly.
"I couldn't believe in what Jiraiya believe in, or…in the man himself. But, you chose a different path. In you I can see a different future," as he says this he starts weaving signs and the beastly contraptions groaned and creaked. "I…will believe in you, Uzumaki Naruto. Gedo Rinne Tensei no Jutsu," Nagato says as he activates one of his Jutsu's that makes the women's eyes widen.
"Nagato, you…!" Konan shouts at him in desperation.
"Konan, it's enough, I have a new choice…a choice I'd given up on," Nagato tells his friend.
"What? What is that tech!?" Naruto asks as Konan stares at the girl with saddened eyes.
"He who controls the Rinnegan is a master of all six pains' techniques. They say he is outside life and death. Nagato is the 7th Pain, able to control life and death," she tells the younger woman. "Gedo," she says as she stares at the dilapidated body of her long time friend. 'If he uses it now with these Chakra levels, yet he still wants to follow this child.' Konan turns her eyes back to the young woman as she stares at her. 'Such a strange child, to have changed Nagato so completely.'
~3~
Suddenly, in the middle of the destroyed wreckage of the Leaf village, a huge form of one of Pain's summons pops up and opens his huge mouth, releasing every single soul that was taken that day. Whether it was being killed or stolen from their bodies. "What?" One Shinobi says as he and the others watched the forms flash by them and end up inside of their previously vacated forms. When Fukasaku sat upright and opened his eyes to stare around him, his eyes landed on his wife and grandsons forms.
"Ma…where am I?" He rasped out, his voice making it seem like he needs water. Then the shrieking started.
'Fukasaku was dead, I'm sure of it! So what is this…? What the hell just happened!?' Sakura wondered as all around her, the dead were suddenly back, sitting up and looking confused.
"Im-impossible…th-this can't be happening," a Ninja said as he watched a form come out from under the rubble. One Kunoichi hugged her loved one as he stared around him confused. Shizune sat up and rubbed her neck.
"Huh?" Ino says as she stares back at the woman.
"What's going on?" Shikamaru asked as he stared back in shock.
"What's going on!?" Inoichi asks as the small group that stood waiting for Naruto to finish up stares back at the village.
"Looks like Naruto's taken care of things," Shikaku tells his friend with a small smile on his lips.
In the toad village, the old sage toad and Bunta is sitting there while he was healing. "It's over," the old sage toad says.
"What's going on…!?" Bunta grunts as he glares at the old toad.
"As it was foretold, but I never thought Jiraiya's two pupils together would be the children of prophecy, the ones to lead a revolution in the Ninja world. Maybe," he says as he stares at Naruto through his crystal ball, "this was all meant to be, from the time Jiraiya decided not to give up. That book really was the key to changing the world."
~3~
Father and son both continue to sit around the fire where Kakashi is sharing his father's past along with his own. "I see, you've had your share of trouble, too," his father says as they stare into the flames.
"Yeah," Kakashi says.
"But, I never thought we'd both die so young," he tells him as his son sits there silently. "Though not as young as your mother," when he says this he watched as his son closes his eyes not wanting the pain in them to show.
"Regardless of what happened, you did the best you could," he tells him as he reopened his eyes. "I understand now, you broke the rules for all of our sakes, I'm proud of you now." His father's eyes widened when he says this and a light appears making the firelight seem to be fading.
"Thank you," he tells his son as a bright light flies out from the darkness to hit Kakashi right at his core, bringing him back from death.
~3~
The two females inside of the fake tree stare at Nagato as his hair starts to whiten right before their eyes. "What's going on? What happened!?" Naruto squeaks out as she is now worried with the new changes to one of her fellow pupils.
"The villagers are being revived," Katsuyu tells her as she wriggles her way out from under her jacket.
"Then…!" Naruto's eyes widen as she stares at the slug.
"There's still time to save those I killed when I came to Konoha. It's the least I can do," Nagato tells her after he remembers how he felt when Jiraiya promised to stay with the three until they could take care of themselves to his other teammates. The sweat is pouring down Nagato's face in rivulets.
~3~
"What?" Kakashi says as he starts to glow brightly.
"Looks like it's not your time yet. You still have things to do," his dad tells him.
"Dad," he stares at the elder male.
"I'm glad I was able to speak with you. Thank you for forgiving me, now I can move on," he tells him as his form starts to darken up. "I can finally see your mother again…"
~3~
Kakashi's eye opens wide all of a sudden and he quickly sits up, startling both Chouji and his father. "Kakashi, too!" Chouza gleefully says as he quickly goes to the side of his friend.
"What happened?" Kakashi asked them.
"Kakashi!" Chouji shouts with tears in her eyes.
"I can explain everything," Katsuyu tells them.
~3~
As soon as he finished using his Jutsu, Nagato released the sign on his hands as he was panting from the exertion. "You…" Naruto stops as she stares at him with worry in her eyes.
"War brings death, and wounds and pain to both sides…There's nothing harder to accept than the deaths of those you love, so you believe…they could never die," Nagato says as blood drips from his chin. "Especially, those who haven't known war, like…your generation. You try to find meaning in death, but…there's only pain…and hatred…that you don't know what to do with. Dying like trash, never ending hatred, pain that never heals…That…is war," he gasps out as he stares into Naruto's eyes. "Naruto…this…is what…you must face…" He smiles as he struggles to keep his eyes open and chuckles. "The book…and you…It's like…someone…set this all up…or…maybe…this is the hand of the real God," he says as Konan starts taking her false tree down, the slips of paper slipping away slowly as light is now shining down on Naruto's face. "My role is over now, Naruto…you…can really…" His voice fades as Konan starts wielding her paper, making it float in the breeze and wrap up her two teammates bodies, gently.
"You're taking him, too?" Naruto asks as the last bit of paper starts to seal up Yahiko's form.
"This God realm Pain was created from Yahiko's corpse. He was someone very special to us," Konan tells him as she keeps her eyes on her task.
"That's…Yahiko?" The blond asks as she stares at Konan with sad eyes, watching as Konan floats both bodies that are now completely wrapped in her papers. "What about you? I don't want you to think you'd just return to Akatsuki…"
"I'm through with Akatsuki, Yahiko and Nagato were everything to me," she tells her. "Yahiko's dream and Nagato's dream…If they've entrusted their dreams to you, then now you are their dreams. Nagato believed in you, so I believe in you, too. Amegakure will help you make that dream come true." Naruto sadly stares down thinking about what Jiraiya told her when she was a few years younger.
"The name Naruto, and the guts to never give up, and Pain that's what my master and fellow pupil have given me!" Naruto tells her as she stares at Konan with a serious look on her face, showing Konan she wasn't wrong to give this girl the right to be the one to handle Yahiko and Nagato's dreams. She held her hand up and quickly created a bouquet of paper roses.
"This time, I hope for you these will be flowers of hope that never die," she tells the young girl as she hands them over to her, making a small but sad smile pop up on her lips.
~3~
Naruto ambled along the forest where she confronted Nagato and Konan, panting with exertion from every step she took. She staggered and started falling only to be caught by Kakashi, the shock showed on her face. "Good job," he tells her as he quickly to her light weight onto his back.
"Kakashi!" She says with a weak excitement that her sensei/team leader was now alive.
"Just hang on," he told her and started carrying her back to the village. He trudged along and stopped when they come to the clearing that is right outside of Konoha, where a huge group of Shinobi and villagers were waiting for her, cheering her for coming back and being their heroine. Naruto's eyes widen as she looks at every single one with awe and shock as they continued to cheer her on. "They've all been waiting for your return," Kakashi tells her and remembers what she said when she first became a member of his team. 'Naruto,' he let her down off of his back. 'You did good.' He thought as he watched everyone that came running up to them.
"I told them everything that happened," Katsuyu tells her as the girl remains thunderstruck.
"What was he like!?" One villager asked her as they all reached her and practically glomped her, drawing a cry from her lips.
"Are you hurt?" Another asks as they stare at her with worry in their eyes.
"Ow! Don't shove!" She says as she is still sore from the entire fight.
'Thank god, Naruto,' Hinata thought as she couldn't wipe the tears of relief quick enough from her cheeks.
"Sakura," Naruto noticed her teammate wade through the crowd as she slowly approached her.
"You're always so rash, dummy!" Sakura shouts at her and pops her aside her head drawing an "Ow!" from the pigtailed blond before she hugs the girl to her. "Thank you," she says as she felt so relieved that the girl was still alive after rescuing the entire village. Every single villager cheered for her and picked her small form up and started tossing her in the air as those that knew her grin, watching the girl fly up to only be caught by the horde.
"What is it?" Shikaku asked the ANBU that appeared suddenly behind him.
"Emergency meeting, you're to report to the council room immediately," the man tells him.
"Already?" He says and stares back at the girl who is still being cheered on by the village.
~3~
Inside the main tent where the Hokage is resting, Naruto and Kakashi were brought there so they could see Tsunade for themselves. "She used Katsuyu to protect the village, and she's been unconscious ever since. I don't know when she'll wake up," Sakura tells them.
"Tsunade…" Naruto stares down at the woman with sad eyes.