In the decades that followed, many who had lived aboard the station would regale enthralled listeners with the story of the catastrophe that spelled the end of the mission of the Konoha, but not a soul could claim to have seen the full devastation wrought by the collision. A select few members of the bridge crew, with access to exterior camera feeds pointed in the direction of the carnage, had disjointed views of the damage from one angle or another, but the full picture of what happened that day would only eventually be reconstructed through the marriage of exhaustive simulations of the moment of impact, analysis of the damage after the fact, and a not insignificant amount of guesswork.
But that knowledge came later, once the time for grief had passed.
Sasuke stumbled out of the hatch of the cruiser that had just barely managed to carry the small contingent of Konoha crew to safety, then sank to his knees on the steel hangar floor. The aftershocks of Sector 7's collision with the station had faded away, but he paid no heed to his surroundings. Sasuke's eyes were screwed shut, his face twisted into a grimace of exquisite agony. He was vaguely aware of Hinata's hysterical cries from behind him, and the metallic sound of hurried footsteps toward the shuttle, but all of the sounds were so far away, muffled by the suffocating haze that had descended upon his mind. Every ounce of his willpower was being poured into attempting to maintain his cracking facade, and it was nowhere near enough. A shuddering gasp escaped his compressed lips as tears began to trickle out of the corners of his eyes.
Sakura had stepped out of the shuttle after Hinata and Sasuke. She hesitated for a split second, her gaze flicking from one to the other, from her longtime friend to the love of her life, both in such terrible pain. After a brief consideration she knelt down next to Hinata, wrapping her arms around the other woman's shuddering form. Tears had begun to flow openly down Sakura's face as well, and she found her grip was so instinctively tight that she had to loosen slightly for fear of hurting her sobbing friend.
The sound of approaching footsteps drawing to a stop made her look up, wiping her eyes with the back of one hand to clear the tears blurring her vision. Kakashi, Shikamaru, and a handful of crew members she didn't recognize had arrived. Kakashi took one look at the trio of figures huddled before him, and she saw his eyes change. The expression that darkened his face as realization hit him sent a fresh wave of tears rushing to her eyes, but she swallowed shakily and forced herself to straighten. Shikamaru rushed forward to take her place, kneeling down to lay a comforting hand on Hinata's back.
"He didn't get off the ship." The declaration hung there, permanent, terrible, poisoning the very air they breathed like a toxic cloud. She briefly saw Shikamaru's eyes close at her words, but her vision was laser-focused on her Commanding Officer.
Kakashi stared at her for a moment, saying nothing. Then, without warning, he took a step forward and smashed his fist into the side of the cruiser with a sickening, fleshy thud. Withdrawing his bloody hand, he spoke to the crew he'd brought without turning away from the vessel's steel fuselage.
"Organize an exo detail. Approach the impact site, assess the damage from the outside, remove as much of the debris as possible… and most importantly, find Petty Officer Uzumaki." The sound of her husband's voice caused a fresh outpouring of wails from Hinata, who sank even further to lay on the hangar floor. Kakashi finally turned back, and Sakura felt torn to pieces by the blackness in his eyes.
"Sir, I understand that you'll need a report on what happened up there. I'd like to request…" Sakura took a deep breath to steady herself, freshly aware of a wave of bile that threatened to wash into her throat. "I'd like to request that you allow me to brief you on what happened." She glanced down at Sasuke as she spoke, and Kakashi followed her gaze.
Sasuke hadn't reacted to anything that had happened since they'd returned to the station. His mind was completely overloaded, every sensory organ in his body seemed to be overclocked to their limits. The characteristic sounds and smells of the hangar, so familiar to him, were strange, alien, frightening in how utterly powerful they felt.
And cutting through it all, the truth pounded through every synapse in his brain.
Naruto is dead. And it is your fault.
If you'd stopped to think, even for a second, and came up with a better plan. It's your fault that he came down to the hangar, it's your fault that you all ended up on that damned ship.
It's your fault that he's gone.
Snatches of conversation from the crew surrounding him began to pierce the fog he was floating in, slowly increasing in volume as he managed to pull some semblance of his focus back to the here and now.
"...several things that need to be done, and immediately…"
"...isn't as bad as it could have been, but it's mainly to the agricultural section…"
"...crews are making their way there, but the damage is making it difficult to..."
How did they know?
The thought struck him like a bolt of lightning, and he paused as he considered it.
How did Orochimaru's group know we'd found it, so quickly? They pulled their trigger less than 30 minutes after I sent that probe from the bridge.
Somehow, they were getting information from the helm of the ship. Something, or someone, was listening. Some-
Sasuke froze as the answer found him. Blood roared past his ears as the truth crashed into him like a runaway freighter. His breath came in short gasps.
Sasuke dragged himself to his feet. Sakura immediately moved next to him, concerned, but his attention was far away. Without another word, he began making his way toward the exit hatch from the hangar, stumbling slightly with each step.
"Captain Uchiha? Sasuke, what are you…?" Kakashi took a step to follow him, but a small hand on his forearm gave him pause. Turning, he locked eyes with Sakura. The woman's jade-green orbs were filled with deep sadness, but her expression displayed a firm resolve as she shook her head minutely.
"He's not hurt. He needs time to process everything. Sir, there's something else… Something much more pressing, that needs your attention. And the fewer people see it, the better."
Kakashi ground his teeth behind his mask. "Sakura… I've had enough of keeping secrets. Secrets nearly destroyed this ship, and everything on it."
A quiet sigh sounded from her lips. "I know, Kakashi." At the sound of his first name from her, the commander of the Konoha calmed visibly. "But at least for now, this needs to be handled discreetly. Come aboard the shuttle, and I'll tell you everything you need to know."
Kakashi considered her words. Suddenly he was desperately, witheringly tired; tired of deception, tired of tragedy, tired of every life on the station being so fundamentally tied to his every decision, and just tired.
"Alright. I'll dismiss the rest of the crewers to their taskings, and then we'll talk."
Sakura's shoulders slumped with relief. Behind them, Hinata's agonized cries had subsided to quiet sobs. Shikamaru was talking quietly to her; Sakura caught "...minor head injury during the crash. Hiwamari and Sarada…" before she returned her attention to Kakashi. The pair started toward the hatch of the cruiser.
"So… What exactly is it that you have in here?"
"Well… 'What' isn't exactly the right question.
The usual barely-organized cacophony of the maintenance section could be briefly heard every few seconds as a loud noise managed to penetrate the improvised steel walls of the chamber, but for the most part, the hideout that had, until recently housed Nagato's organization was as quiet as it had ever been.
He never would have admitted it, but it unnerved Itachi ever so slightly to stand in the crowded space and hear so little activity.
The clearing at the wall of the dome that housed the crew's lounge area- the same space that he and his associates had had their fateful meeting with his brother, days that felt like years ago- was mostly untouched, but it was the only section of the chamber that could boast such a claim. The entire rest of the space had been picked clean; the maze of storage crates and shelving units that had groaned under the weight of thousands of pounds of contraband had been reduced to a scattered arrangement of empty lockers and a few forgotten pieces of plunder. The emptiness of the room lent an echo to every slight sound Itachi made, elevating the eeriness of the space tenfold.
A cavernous steel tomb, emptied of all value that morning in preparation for Orochimaru's planned exodus from the Konoha to the surface of the planet below. By now, the contents of the warehouse would be long on their way planetside.
Itachi had felt the massive quaking of the station about an hour previously, and he knew exactly what it meant. Nagato, Konan, and the rest of the crew- the people he'd come to call acquaintances, if not quite properly friends- were long gone, for good, and they'd sent millions of tons of steel hurtling toward a million people. All in fulfillment of the wishes of a madman.
He could only hope that Sasuke and the others had made it back safely.
Taking one last look around the space, Itachi began carefully weaving his way through the forlorn-looking empty shelves toward the entrance to the dome with a fluid grace of movement that betrayed his long years of experience navigating the cramped quarters. Like everything else he did, there was an elegance to his traversal, and usually that gave him a quiet satisfaction. Not today.
Itachi let out a long sigh as he exited through the makeshift double doors into the wide space of the hangar-turned-community beyond.
A cold ring of steel pressed itself against the back of his neck, and a rustling sound alerted him to motion from his right side.
"Itachi. You missed your flight."
The realization of his brother's presence sent an eruption of emotions flooding through his mind. First and foremost, a hissing anger at himself for his inattentiveness; no one, not even Sasuke, should have been able to so completely get the drop on him. He'd let himself fall into melancholy, had lost his myriad focus on his surroundings for just long enough. Those kinds of mistakes got people killed in Sector 6.
Once the flare of irritation had subsided, his next feeling was a quiet relief. Sasuke might be here with a weapon pressed to his head, but he was here, and he was alive. Of all the sins he'd committed against his blood, he hadn't crossed that final line.
However, both of those responses were short-lived, obliterated by the third and all-encompassing reaction: Fear.
In all his life, Itachi had never heard a voice so laced with contempt, anguish, and murderous rage. Not from Nagato, not from Orochimaru, not from anyone in the whole of his existence had he ever heard the kind of targeted vitriol that his brother's quiet voice conveyed.
Slowly raising his hands, Itachi turned to face the ambush. Sasuke was standing just in the shadow of the door to Nagato's warehouse, a black leather cloak drawn around his shoulders, the hood pulled up so that the shadows partially obscured his face. One hand clenched his service sidearm, trained directly between Itachi's eyes, while the other remained beneath the folds of his cloak. Sasuke's posture was wire-tight, every muscle in his body tensed to their limits. His black eyes glittered dangerously from beneath the shiny material of his hood.
"Had a falling out?"
Itachi forced himself to meet his brother's eyes, centering himself. "Sasuke. It's good to see that you're safe."
Sasuke flinched at his words, and understanding came to Itachi in a flash of insight.
He came back safe… But someone else didn't. Sasuke, I am so sorry.
"Naruto is dead." Sasuke ignored what he'd said completely, his own words barreling out of his mouth, driven by the frenzied speed of complete anguish. "We investigated Hinata's DOT, brought him with us… It was all a trap. But then, you knew that, didn't you? You didn't come along, because you were afraid of what the eventual result would be. You wanted to absolve yourself, to feel like you were blameless of what came next."
With a rustling sound, Sasuke's free hand withdrew from his cloak, and he extended it toward his brother. Something silvery shone there, dangling below his outstretched palm. Itachi knew what it was before his brother's hand had even moved, but he forced himself to look anyway.
There was no escaping reckoning. Not this time.
The necklace he'd left for Sarada hung from Sasuke's entwined fingers, gleaming even in the relatively dull light of the maintenance chamber. It had been crushed, by what looked like a great weight- a few sad strands of circuitry dangled from the gaping lesions in the surface of the delicate metal.
"Here's your blame, brother. You bugged my daughter, because of where she was stationed , so that Orochimaru would have constant word from the bridge- and by extension, from me. You knew that if any major developments were to arise, that if Sector 7 was found, there was an excellent chance that Sarada would be on the bridge when the revelation came.
"You used me. You used your own family, your flesh and blood, to cater to the whims of a murderous lunatic.
"And now Naruto is dead! The kindest, most dedicated, most caring man I knew is dead! You took him from his wife, his children, and from me!"
The echoes of the words rang against the hard steel walls. The few scattered maintenance workers within earshot looked up curiously at the outburst, saw who was involved, and quickly moved to be anywhere else.
Sasuke broke the deafening silence. This time, there was no malice in his voice, no poisonous hate. His tone was flat and lifeless.
"Give me a reason, any reason, why I should ever forgive you for this."
Itachi closed his eyes. Somehow, of it all, that last statement hurt the most. Because this was his little brother talking, and the horrifying, heartbreaking truth of the matter was that it wasn't just an empty statement.
Sasuke wanted to forgive him, no matter the horrible things he'd done, because he was his brother.
"Sasuke… Listen to me, and listen very clearly. I am not worth forgiveness. I will tell you why I did what I did- why I caused so much pain- but I want you to give me your word that you will not absolve me, because I do not deserve it."
Sasuke said nothing, but the slightest hint of confusion began to shine in his cold black eyes.
"I knew what I was doing, the second Orochimaru approached me and asked me to plant that device. I knew that I was crossing a line that could never be uncrossed, and I knew that I could very well be causing unspeakable pain, to innocent people who did not deserve it, and possibly even to those among the navy who I still count as friends- for there are still those I do, even though I know that the feeling is not mutual.
"And I could have said no. Orochimaru was a murderer, and utterly unhinged, there isn't any question about that. But I could have declined, and though it would have meant the end of my time with Nagato's crew, I still could have refused the whole business.
"But I didn't, and do you knot why? I agreed, to protect you."
Sasuke's face was unreadable.
"When Orochimaru approached me with his scheme, and asked me to stomp out what tiny bit of loyalty I still had to my blood, I told him that I would do as he asked- but on one condition. That if I were to do this, to commit this final sin, that he would ensure that no matter what happened, no matter where his crimes would lead him, that no harm would come to you."
Sasuke laughed. It was a terrible, humourless laugh, more akin to the sound of a heavy sheet of metal splintering than to an actual human being's mirth. His black eyes locked to his brother's.
"Then you're a fool. Orochimaru might have agreed to your terms, but the moment you were out of earshot he took the oath he'd made to you and spit on it. He left all of us aboard Sector 7 to die, and would have happily watched it happen if he could have done so."
Itachi didn't respond. Sasuke watched with a combination of bitter satisfaction and twisting pity as his brother's carefully composed expression of passive neutrality slipped, his face falling into anguish for a split second before he rushed to slap the mask back on.
"If you thought even for a second that that man cared about you, or anything you wanted, you aren't the man I thought you were.
"Once all of this is said and done, the population will be heading planetward to settle. You'll be given the exact same opportunity that everyone else in Sector 6 will be given: a habitation module and enough stores to sustain you, and to begin a new life of your own. I suggest you take it.
"You wanted no forgiveness? I'll do you one better: If I ever see you again, on Site III or anywhere else, I promise you that I will kill you where you stand."
Itachi bowed his head. When he looked back up, black eyes boring into eyes so much like his own, Sasuke felt a dull ripple of shock to see moisture gathering in the corners of their sockets.
"If you ever see me again, I will welcome it."
Then, without another word, he turned and strode away, heading away from the dome-shaped warehouse toward one of the exit bulkheads from the chamber. The sliding doors opened to admit him, closed behind him with a faint hint of protesting hydraulics.
Sasuke never saw him again, and he would thank the Mother many times for it.
Kakashi's head dropped to his desk. His eyelids felt like they were made of liquid lead, but he forced himself to turn and crack one eye open to stare at the time display the glowed a pale green in the corner of the viewscreen on the opposite wall.
0232 hrs Ship's time.
A quiet grunt escaped the lips of the Konoha's Commanding Officer. Sakura had explained everything to him aboard the shuttle that they'd brought back with them from the mysterious shuttle whose pieces were now scattered throughout the orbit path of the station. When she'd called into the crew hold, and Kakashi had seen the young woman who emerged, his legs had nearly given way beneath him; that had been one final shock too many.
He'd sat in the pilot's seat in the cockpit, stunned, as Sakura and the woman who was, he supposed, technically her ancestor, had explained the final truth behind Sector 7. The mission's true purpose, the secret existence of the human contingent aboard the shuttle, the revelation of the heritage of the population of the Konoha.
It was all too much to take in. He hadn't even been given a chance to process the death of his old student, one of his oldest friends. And now, every single aspect of his entire existence had suddenly been flipped completely on its head.
He'd retired to the bridge, making his way directly to his office, not stopping for anything or anyone on his way there. Inoichi had looked questioningly in his direction when he'd entered through the bulkhead, but one glance at the look on his face, even mostly hidden by his mask, had told the extremely perceptive man everything he'd needed to know, and he'd kept his distance.
Now he was sitting at his desk, trying his best to process the multitude of thoughts tramping through his mind like an oppressive marching band. He was almost relieved when the entrance alert chimed from the doorway, announcing someone attempting to gain entry. He straightened his back to regain some semblance of professionalism before keying the door open from his desk.
Neji Hyuuga stepped into the office, the door sliding quietly shut behind him. He offered Kakashi a crisp salute, but the older man's extremely perceptive eyes didn't miss the trembling of his hands as he did so. Kakashi returned the salute before motioning to the chair in front of his desk; Neji only shook his head and remained standing.
"Sir, we've located Petty Officer Uzumaki's remains."
Kakashi felt his heart sink at the announcement. It was several orders of magnitude better than the alternative, where Naruto was never recovered, but it didn't make the moment any easier to process. No matter how logical he may be, he couldn't help the tiny part of his mind that had clung to a stubborn, impossible hope that they'd somehow find the man out there, clinging to life somehow.
"I see… Thank you, Lieutenant. I'll speak to Commander Yamanaka about preparations for a funeral service, as soon as we can."
Neji swallowed audibly, and Kakashi could see him working through his next words. He'd never seen the young Prelate of Helm this agitated, and his heart went out to him in that moment.
"Sir, if I may…" Neji trailed off, his gaze sliding to a point somewhere over Kakashi's shoulder. Kakashi waited patiently, allowing him to collect himself, until the pale eyes refocused onto his face, his face schooling itself into an expression of sad determination.
"Admiral Hatake, I would like to deliver the news to Lieutenant Uzumaki. Please."
Kakashi nodded immediately. "Of course, Neji. I wouldn't have it any other way." He saw the young man relax at his words, his eyes sliding closed in a visible effort to maintain his composure.
"Thank you, Sir. That said, we have a much more pressing problem."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"The Engineering Cell has completed a preliminary assessment of the station's core functions, following the crash. Most of the systems aboard the Konoha are still operating with mostly complete proficiency, and those that aren't are at least functional enough to continue operations. The problem is the Konoha itself… The collision significantly impacted the trajectory of the station. Our orbit pattern is no longer stable.
"Initial predictions are predicting that there's a very strong possibility that we can expect the change in pathing to end with us colliding with Site III."
The words had a crushing finality to them. Kakashi would have expected to feel fear, or confusion, or indecisiveness at such a proclamation of doom. But, strangely enough, none of those feelings emerged. In the rush of everything else that had happened in the last day, with everything swirling through his brain, this news brought a sudden and unexpected clarity to Kakashi's mind. This, at least, was a foe he could fight. This was something that he could take action against.
"Thank you, Lieutenant Hyuuga. I am relieving you of your duties for the entirety of tomorrow, in order to deliver the news of Lieutenant Uzumaki's passing." He paused, and his eyes found Neji's pale ones, projecting what he hoped was a silent wave of compassion and understanding. "Be there for her, Neji. Be the foundation she'll so sorely need right now."
Neji nodded, maintaining his stone-faced composure with visible difficulty. "And the station, sir?"
For just a brief moment, Kakashi felt the weight of the entire history of the Konoha settle on his shoulders. Eighty-two years of exploration, all culminating here and now. Whatever decision he made here would close the book on this chapter of the station's life cycle- and he now knew, following his debrief with Sakura, it would mean so much more than that.
In the end, the choice was simple. It was the only choice, when it came down to it.
"For the moment, I'll prepare a statement, to be broadcast to the entirety of the station. The time for lies and secrecy is at an end." As he spoke, Kakashi felt the slightest twinge of guilt at the realization that, even now, he was lying to Neji. He would tell his people the truth, and the entire truth… With the exception of the devastating revelations Sakura and Kara had shared with him about the true fate of the human race.
He promised himself that he would tell them in due time, but that announcement would take significantly more time to craft in order to be delivered properly.
"Lieutenant Hyuuga, send word to all naval cells: Tomorrow morning, we begin planetfall procedures.
"It's time to go home."
As the next ship's morning dawned, the mostly-sleepless residents of the Konoha awoke from fitful rest to a changed world. Few, if anyone, on board the station was ignorant of the seismic impact that had shook their entire world the night before. News of the specific details of the incident were scarce, but nonetheless spread like wildfire throughout the crew and civilians aboard the ship. Most of the population of the Konoha returned to their day-to-day with a somber, grim atmosphere of uncertainty permeating every corridor and corner of the station's inner workings. The naval crew who had been tasked with recovery and reorganization dutifully thrust themselves into the long, slow process that lay ahead of them.
Kakashi Hatake, meanwhile, had not left his office. He had been awake for nearly nineteen hours at this point, and yet sleep dared not trouble him, almost as though his body knew the importance of the errand he now found himself on. Soon, he knew, his faculties would require some artificial stimulus as help to maintain his consciousness, and a tube of stimulant gel sat waiting on the edge of his desk.
As the shimmering clock display on his office's main viewscreen ticked over to 1000 hrs ship's time, he took a deep breath, then engaged broadcast systems to the entirety of the station. After a few seconds of undetectable electronic activity, a soft green light ignited on the border of the screen to indicate that transmission had begun.
And so, he began to speak.
"Men and women of the Konoha." He began.
All across the station, every viewscreen, every datapad, every transmitting video device that was not identified as critical viewing had flashed an indicator of an incoming broadcast, before changing into an image of the masked face, shoulders and torso of the Commanding Officer of the Konoha. Admiral Kakashi Hatake stared out at the population of the ship that he had sworn to hold office to protect and to serve, and the people, in turn, collectively held their breath in anticipation of what he would say.
In the bridge, the helm crew glanced up from their stations as often as possible to hear the words emanating from the office at the rear of their workplace. Sarada Uchiha, the acting Prelate while Neji was absent, latched on to every single word.
"As many of you have now heard, and no doubt most of you at least have some awareness of: Last ship's night, at approximately 0200 hrs, a huge object made contact with the Konoha, causing severe impact tremors and causing sustained damage to the station's exterior, and to certain interior components, most notably the agricultural sections of Sector 4."
At Akimichi Agriculture, Choji Akimichi barely paid the broadcasts any heed as he yelled directions at hordes of laborers, scrambling from one place to another carrying farming equipment, seeds, and produce. The north field's bulkhead was sealed, the surface hurriedly marked with a splash of fluorescent red paint in a smeared symbol indicating hull failure beyond.
Choji grimaced, every time he glanced at those doors. 38% of the station's entire sustenance growth capacity, all lost to the vacuum of space.
"Let me be immediately clear: The damage to the station was immense, but not catastrophic. There is no immediate significant danger to the population of the station. The engineering section performed their duties without fear and with great efficiency, sealing off the compromised sections of the station and ensuring that all vital systems are still operating at least within acceptable boundaries.
"But none of this is what you want to hear. You want answers, you want to know why all of this happened. And for that, I hope to at least shed the slightest bit of light on these events."
In the Science Cell, Anko Mitarashi's eyes were fixed to her desk's viewscreen. One hand was placed over her mouth as she stared into the digital eyes of the man she loved. Tears shone in her eyes, but they couldn't stop a lopsided half-smirk from forming as she watched him.
"Yesterday evening, we discovered that an undiscovered, undetected ship had been towed behind us for the entirety of our mission. Since launch, this cloaked freighter had been following us, tracking every jump and every arc of travel along our path."
At the Uchiha residence, Sakura Uchiha broke her attention away from the entertainment console that was now transmitting her CO's address to glance down at the sofa. Kara, the human woman who now represented the final member of the human species, was sound asleep, nestled into the soft black cushioning with a thick synthetic blanket wrapped around her. The post-stasis fatigue, combined with the crushing events she'd experienced since waking up, had finally caught up with her.
Sakura gazed at the young woman, taking in the rhythm of her deep, even breathing, feeling a quiet sense of unease chewing away at her.
"The station, after following us for so long, was sabotaged to enter a collision path with the Konoha by a group of disgruntled personnel. Those responsible have all since left the station, never to return. The shuttle then collided with the station at 0158 hrs ship's time, breaking up on impact.
"It is with great relief that I am able to confirm that, by the Mother's grace, not a single person aboard the Konoha was harmed during the collision. However, it is with great sorrow, that I am forced to announce that Petty Officer Naruto Uzumaki, of the Enforcement Cell, boldly gave his life in a heroic attempt to divert the course of the ship."
In a recovery room of the Konoha's medical bay, Hinata was lying between the clean white sheets of a hospital bed. She simply stared at the screen at Kakashi's somber words, squeezing the hand of her cousin seated next to her in a bone-crushing grip. On the other side of the bed, Hiwamari was openly weeping into her brother's shoulder. Boruto had both arms wrapped around his sister, forcing himself to keep his eyes on the screen even as the view of the announcement threatened to disappear behind the clouds of tears pouring from them.
"Petty Officer Uzumaki was a proud and dedicated member of the Konoha's navy, and he served this station with every fibre of his being. In his final moments, he thought not of self-preservation, but only to protect this ship and the people on it."
"Now, we look forward, to our future. The impact with the shuttle has caused the orbit of the Konoha around Site III to destabilize. Though the effects are slight, and cause no immediate danger, they will eventually lead to a collision with the planet itself.
"And so, it is with the full weight of my rank and station that I form you all that, as of today, evacuation procedures have begun. Within a week, the population of this great station will have been disembarked fully, and will begin the first steps toward establishing our new colony on Site III.
"My friends, my family... The Konoha's journey has come to a close. Now, it is time for the true journey- the journey of the human race- to begin."
The end is approaching, friends. Thank you all for joining me.