Naruto POV
I saw Temari and Gaara finishing up the last standing sound shinobi. I looked around and saw that almost everywhere the fights had stopped, most of the attackers had been captured. Luckily most of the civilians had been caught in the genjutsu that had been cast before the attack. They had slept through most of the fighting and were now starting to wake up, since Orochimaru, who was probably the caster of the Genjutsu, had left and thus had to cancel it. Temari and Gaara jumped down to me with a distressed look on their face. "Where was that explosion coming from?", Temari asked, looking around searching the arena for any signs of said explosion. "I think it came from the fight between Orochimaru and the Hokage.", I responded. We jumped onto the ranks and ran towards the place where we saw a giant crater in the middle of one of the training grounds. I saw on the faces of Tsunade and Shizune that something was wrong, even before we had arrived next to them. Jiraiya was kneeling next to something. When I came closer, it became clear, that he was kneeling in front of a burned body. I knew immediately, that this body could only belong to one person, since the third Hokage was nowhere to be seen. I went to Jiraiya, because I had to see the corpse for myself, before I wanted to believe what had happened. I knelt down beside him and saw that Hiruzen's face was mostly unharmed. I stood up and tried to keep my tears at bay, going back to Temari and Gaara. "When will the funeral be?", I asked with silent voice. "Probably within the next two weeks.", Tsunade said, tears streaming down her face. I nodded and turned around. I walked past Gaara and Temari, without saying a word, my face set in stone. The two looked at me with sad eyes, following me. I went straight to the training ground, that we had been using, ignoring the remarks of the civilians about my heritage and how I should come back to Konoha. They had yet to be informed about the death of their Hokage, so for them the biggest concern was to rebuild after the successful defence of Konoha. At the training ground I sat down, my back leaned against a tree and looked at my teammates. Temari had put an arm around me and leaned against me, while Gaara had sat down opposite to us. "The exams are over, we should be going home…. However, I can't go right now. I won't force you two to stay, but I will wait for the funeral. What I think, would be best is for you, Gaara to go back to Suna, relay what happened and maybe even set up a visit from Rasa in Konoha, maybe he can come to the funeral. I know he held a high opinion of Hiruzen. As I said I will stay here and I would be incredibly thankful if you, Temari, could stay with me so that I don't have to be alone.", I proposed with silent voice, still fighting to hold back my tears. "I will stay with you.", Temari whispered, leaning her head onto my shoulder. Gaara thought for a moment, before answering. "I will be back for the funeral, I can only imagine how much he meant to you, so I will at least be there for you and pay my respects for the Hokage. I will try to get Rasa and Baki to come with me, but I can't promise anything.", he said. I nodded with a small smile on my face.
At the evening Gaara had cleared out his room in the hotel and stood in front of the gates. Temari gave him a hug and wished him a good journey. "Thank you, for being there for me and for understanding. We'll see each other in two weeks.", I whispered as I hugged him. Gaara smiled and nodded, turning around and jumping away into the setting sun.
At the way back to the hotel, I heard a loud gong, ringing through the streets. Almost immediately the streets were filled with people, rushing towards the hokage tower. I looked at Temari and we both nodded, jumping onto the roof, taking off towards the hokage's office.
When we got there, we saw Tsunade and Jiraiya along with the two advisors of the Hokage standing on top of the hokage tower. The small square in front of the tower, was filled with civilians, while the rooftops around it were littered with shinobi of every age.
Then the gong was heard a second time and everyone went quiet.
"People of Konoha, today has been a day of great misery. This day will most likely be put in the history books as one of the saddest days in Konoha. Not only, have we been attacked by the sound village and their Kage Orochimaru and have lost a lot of good shinobi and kunoichi in the defense of this attack, but we also have lost a great leader, the third hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was killed by Orochimaru, while defending Konoha. Because of that, we will cancel the chunin exams. In two weeks we will hold a public funeral for everyone that we have lost today. That is all.", Tsunade said with firm voice, although I could see that she still had tears streaming down her face. The audience was shocked and it took a while for them to realize that Tsunade and the others had already gone back into the hokage tower. Temari took my hand and smiled at me, while we went back towards the hotel.
The next morning I woke up with my head still on Temari's legs. I was confused for a second, before I remembered that I had broken down, once we were in the hotel room and Temari had comforted me. I looked up and saw Temari leaning against the wall, with a pillow behind her head. She was smiling in her sleep. I smiled and closed my eyes again, caressing her legs, waiting for her to wake up. I used the time to think about what had happened and about Hiruzen and what he had done for me. Thinking about all the happy moments that I had with him, or because of him.
When Temari woke up, I had, yet again, tears in my eyes. I smiled nonetheless as she stirred and opened her eyes. I sat up and looked at her smiling face, before leaning into a kiss.
"What do you want to do now?", Temari asked, after we had broken the kiss. "I don't know. I know, that Hiruzen had wanted to give me the rest of my parents heirlooms after the exams so I would maybe go to the hokage office and try to get my hands on them. You don't have to come with me, it could get pretty messy.", I said, thinking about the council and that they would probably want me back in Konoha and that they would do anything for me to stay there. "Nonsense, of course I am coming with you.", Temari said, leaving no room for arguments. I smiled at the determination of my girlfriend and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Then we should get dressed.", I said, getting up and going through my stuff.
Once we were at the hokage tower, we saw a large array of flowers and candles, that stood in front of it. We also saw a few people, standing there with closed eyes and head hanging. We went past the mourning people and into the tower itself. At the receptionist desk didn't set the usual woman, but Shizune who was looking through a few papers. "Ah hello Naruto, Temari, what can I do for you?", she asked, smiling at us. "We were wondering, if we could speak to the advisors, Hiruzen left some things open and I thought, that the advisors could help us with them, since they have the power at the moment.", I smiled at Tsunade's apprentice. "I am sorry, but the advisors are currently in a meeting with the council and the fifth Hokage, informing her about everything she needs to know about the village.", Shizune apologized with a smile on her face. "Oh so that is why you sit here, I didn't think, that they would act so fast in their search for a new Hokage. Anyways, I would like to have an appointment with Tsunade, within the next week, if it is possible.", Shizune looked through her papers, searching for the timetable with Tsunade's appointments. "Sorry, she won't have much time in the next few days...It looks like she has some time two days after the funeral at noon, is that alright for you?", she asked, taking a pen into her hands. I nodded and she put my name into the empty spot of the schedule.
As we walked out of the hokage tower, we saw Kakashi with a list in his hand limping away. He looked miserable, his left leg was obviously bandaged, even though he had put his pants over the wound, it was still noticeably swollen, he had a large gash running down his left arm and another large wound on his face.
"Hey, Kakashi, wait up.", I said, as we caught up to him. "Why aren't you in the hospital?", Temari asked, as the white haired man turned to face us. "Because they didn't have enough people to treat everyone and I can wait a few days. What are you guys doing here?", he asked back. "We'll stay until the funeral, then we will go back to Suna.", I explained, earning a nod from Kakashi.
"Well, do you have anything to do?", Kakashi asked, his eyes lighting up. "Not really, what do you need?", Temari asked smiling. "We need a few shinobi to help with rebuilding the destroyed training ground, where Orochimaru had fought Sarutobi. Most of our own shinobi are injured, so we could really use some help.", he stated, looking at us pleadingly. "Yeah, sure, we'll be on our way.", I said, taking Temari's hand and walking towards the arena and the training ground, that was behind it.
At the scene, we saw that the training ground itself was mostly restored already. However, the wall of the stadium had been heavily damaged by the explosion. We saw most of Konoha's genin, at the training ground, picking up rubble, while a few older shinobi were working on the stadium wall. I saw someone with purple hair, which reminded me of Anko. I turned around to Temari with alarmed eyes. "Have you seen Anko around?", I asked her with slightly trembling voice, fearing the worst. Just then I heard the voice of the soon-to-be sand kunoichi. "Naruto, Temari, good to see you.", Anko shouted as she wave at us from the top of the arena. I smiled relieved and waved back. Temari just chuckled and didn't say anything about it. Anko had jumped down from the arena and was talking to a man that was standing in front of the arena. He was holding, what seemed to be a plan of how the walls had to be rebuild. We walked towards them and the man turned towards us. I immediately identified him as Iruka Umino, a chunin that had been ranked B-class in the bingo book of Sunagakure. "And how will you two be the biggest help, I could imagine?", he asked, with a glance at Anko who was silently chuckling behind him. I grinned, gave a wink and put my hands in a very familiar hand sign. A moment later, a hundred Narutos came into existence, widening Iruka's eyes and causing a lot of the surrounding people to stop what they are doing and look at what was happening. "Just tell them what to do, they will follow your every command.", I said, before taking Temari's hand and walking past him towards Anko.
The sun was just setting as my clones and the other helpers finished repairing the arena. Temari and I were already on our way to the hotel, as I received the different memories of the clones, indicating that they had dissolved themselves. We went into our room and Temari threw herself onto the bed, smiling at me. "Won't you even, change?", I asked, as I got into my pyjamas and crawled onto the bed next to her. The girl didn't answer me but instead, rolled on top of me and pressed her lips against mine.
Gaara POV
When I got to the entrance to Sunagakure I was incredibly happy, finally I was back home. I nodded at the guards, who recognized me and let me pass without a hassle. I went straight to my father's office. I was sent into the waiting room and sat down, closing my eyes and resting for a bit, before the kazekage called me into his office.
"Hi Gaara, how are, you, I heard that Konoha was attacked? Where are Naruto and Temari?", Rasa immediately asked, as I closed the door. "Hello, Rasa, I'm good, Temari and Naruto stayed in Konoha, they are fine.… There is something, that I have to tell you, the third Hokage was killed by Orochimaru during the attack. That is actually the reason, why Naruto and Temari have stayed there. The funeral will be in exactly ten days and Naruto would be glad if you could come to show your respect towards his friend. So, will you come with me to the funeral or not?", I asked, making it clear, that I was attending the funeral with or without my father. "That is horrible news. Of course, I will be attending.", Rasa said. I smiled at this. "We should probably plan for a three day trip towards Konoha, so we will be leaving in six days at sunrise, that way we have at least the night to rest before the burial.", the Kazekage said, earning a nod from me. I took my leave and went home, to rest after my trip.
Timeskip 10 Days
Naruto POV
Temari took my hand, as I came back to my place, I had put a black rose on top of Hiruzen's casket and we were now waiting for Asuma who had announced that he was going to hold a speech. Next to her stood Gaara then Rasa and then Baki, they had arrived the evening before and Rasa had already set up a meeting with Tsunade to discuss about the relationship of the two villages in the future.
Asuma walked slowly up to the front, where a small lectern had been set up. Tsunade had earlier already held a speech about the many deceased people, who had fought for Konoha two weeks ago. Most of them had already been buried within a smaller ceremony with their families and friends, so the only real burial that was taking place was the one of the Hokage.
Asuma looked at the crowd and pulled out a piece of paper.
"Today, we do not only say 'Goodbye' to a great friend, a father, a grandfather and a teacher, no, we have lost someone who was much more than that. We lost a great leader, a man who had been with us for most of our lives, not many people are still alive that he had gone to school with. We have lost someone who was known throughout the world and who had learned so many different things, that he had gotten the nickname 'The Professor'. But today should not be spent in sorrow, that is not what my father would have wanted. If he would stand here, he would say: 'Don't be sad that I died, be glad that I lived.' And he would encourage us to remember the good times with him, how he had laughed with us or how he had helped us. I know for a fact, that his influence reaches far outside of Konoha, to Sunagakure for example and to so many other places. He has left a big hole in our hearts, but we shall not let this hole be filled with rage and thoughts about revenge, that is not what he would have wanted. He would have wanted for us to heal our wounds with the help of our friends and to follow the will of fire, to forget our hatred and to fill our hearts with love and joy. We shall honor him and celebrate his life, not mourn his death.
Thank you.", Asuma's voice broke a few times within the speech and he had to clear his throat, but after he finished, the audience was stunned. Most had dried their tears and were reminiscing about their time with the third Hokage.
As he walked back to his place, the casket was lowered into the grave. Tsunade went back to the podium and said her thanks to anyone who came, ending the ceremony.