She was the last to arrive to the meeting. She felt the eyes of her father resting on her. She could almost hear the question in his eyes. It would have to wait. Right now Himawari, and everyone else, had other matters on their minds.

"Is everyone ready?", Sasuke asked, looking everyone separately in the eye. Everyone nodded. The vibe in the group was tense. Sasuke, satisfied with everyone response, turned his attention towards Shikadai. Apparently, the Nara had come up with a strategy.

"Alright, as we all know, me, Himawari and Sasuke were overwhelmed in enemy territory and almost payed for that with our lives. Part of the reason we were beaten, was because we were separated from each other, and thus were unable to provide sufficient back-up for each other." Shikadai looked around the group. Everyone was listening closely to what he had to say. "To prevent this situation from occurring again, we'll be working with a type of buddy-system. Each team will have a medical-ninja in their squad. I will pair up with Himawari, Sasuke and Naruto, with Naruto and Sasuke serving as one tag team and Himawari and I as the other tag team. This leaves Sarada, Boruto and Mitsuki as the second squad. Try to stay as much in these squads as possible. Now Himawari and Sarada, the two of you are primarily responsible for the healing aspect, while the rest of us take the lead in the fighting." Shikadai stopped talking for a moment to share a look with both her and Sarada, as if he wanted to make sure the two of them were fully aware of their role of medics. But even if that was the case, Himawari wasn't going to stand by and watch her teammates get hurt. As if Shikadai could read her mind, he continued: "Of course this doesn't mean you can't join the fight. You'll be forced as we'll be overwhelmed all over again if you stay out of it. To top it off, the two of you are valuable fighters even without the medical ninjutsu, but you must be fully aware that it's important that the two of you survive. If that means fleeing from a battle and getting yourself into safety before the rest of us can, so be it. You're our best chance of survival as well. If you get seriously hurt, or even worse, killed, than our chances of survival decrease drastically as well."

Himawari swallowed. This was an awful lot of pressure to put on her. She didn't know if she would be able to leave behind her teammates should she ever be put in that position. But she knew he was right. If she died and Sarada was unable to heal them for one or another reason, than they would all be in trouble.

"Now if everyone is ready, Sasuke will open the portal back to the land of Birds. Be prepared everyone." Naruto said, laying one last worried look on his daughter, who knowingly ignored him. She couldn't worry about her father right now. She had to focus on the battle ahead of her.

Sasuke opened the portal. Himawari recognized the place as the spot where she and Shikadai had first met up with Sasuke. Naruto was the first to enter the portal, quickly followed by her brother and the rest of his team. Once Sarada had gone through the portal, Shikadai followed, leaving her and Sasuke. She was about to jump through the portal when Sasuke's voice stopped her: "Don't do anything reckless, Himawari."

She looked up at Sasuke, surprised. What kind of advice was this.

"You have grown a lot over the past few years and all of us would have died if it weren't for you, but you're still Naruto's daughter. You would go through great lengths to save your friends even if that means putting yourself at risk. Don't go too far, Himawari."

Himawari pinched her lips together. He was right. She would die if it meant saving her friends.

"Don't bother, Sasuke. It will not stop me from saving them" she said, before jumping through the portal, leaving Sasuke alone.

Sasuke smiled, closing his eyes, as the girl reminded him of the good old days with his best friend. She reminded him of Naruto. The same gutsiness. The same thrive to safe their loved ones. Sasuke felt strangely assured, knowing Himawari would never give up. He looked one last time at the peaceful sight of Mount Myoboku before following his comrades into battle.

Once they arrived, they took the free time their enemy was giving them to enjoy a few last moments of rest. Everyone was building up their chakra and eating foods that would help with their stamina, sitting in the small squads Shikadai had proposed. Naruto and Sasuke sat together and it appeared like her father was giving the Uchiha, who looked exceptionally grim, a pep-talk. Sarada, her brother and Mitsuki were also sitting together, quietly talking to each other, making up a strategy. The only ones who weren't talking were her and Shikadai.

"Himawari?" Himawari looked up, startled by the sound of Shikadai's voice. "Hmm?" The Nara looked at her with warmth. But also with concern. "Will you promise me you won't push yourself to the edge to save me again?" He looked at her. He was dead serious.

"No, Shikadai. I won't promise that." She looked him dead in the eye, hoping he would understand why she wouldn't give up on him, or any of her teammates for that matter. She wanted him to understand. "You're my comrade and I care about you. I will do everything in my power to save you, even if it means dying myself." Shikadai started to shake his head, trying to go against her. Himawari wasn't having it. "We all have a role to play in this mission. If I feel like your role is more important than mine, than I will gladly give up my life, because in that case it would mean making sure the mission is a success. You know me better than just to assume I would just die for nothing, Shikadai. I fully intent to live, but I won't let it stop me from making the difficult choices here…"

"But I don't want you to die!" For the first time since Himawari knew Shikadai, she saw him grow irritated. For some reason, he was very passionate about her living to see another day.

"But, that's the risk you're taking as a shinobi, especially when faced with a powerful foe like this" she defended her previous words.

"Don't you get it?" He was agitated, making big movements with his hands to compromise for the fact he was keeping his voice down: "I care about you! You already almost died once because of me and honestly it was the worst feeling in the world. Knowing you almost weren't walking on this planet anymore because of me… I couldn't stand it!"

Himawari grew quiet. She wasn't expecting this. She had no idea that Shikadai felt like that and that her dying would bring such pain to him. Now that she thought about it, it would also bring a lot of pain to her brother and her parents… Was she really prepared to make that sacrifice?

Shikadai took a deep breath, calming down. "I'm sorry, Himawari, I shouldn't have put that burden on you…" Himawari remained quiet. She didn't dare to look in the Nara's compelling green eyes and frankly was unsure how to react to his revelation as a whole. The two of them just sat together in silence for a while, until Naruto announced he and Kurama had picked up on their enemy and that they were fast approaching with group of around seven ninja. Everyone got up and prepared themselves for the upcoming battle. The air around them was filled with tension. And something about this tension finally pushed Himawari to react to the statement Shikadai had made. When he got up and mumbled he would check his supply of kunai, Himawari grabbed him by his collar and swiftly turned him around, before giving him a feather light peck on his lips, leaving the young Nara behind, looking bedazzled.

"Stay safe, Shikadai."