This one's a bit rough since I didn't get as much time to edit it as I'd have liked. I'll go over this again and clean it up a little more over the rest of the week.

Chapter 16 - Grim Tutor

Eyes opened wide. It was dark, the curtains drawn. Despite that, Namikaze Naruto could spot the slivers of light making its way past the edges of the cloth. Above him, he could see the lines of the wooden ceiling clearly, saw how it was cut to allow the ceiling fan to hang over him. The little bits of light that made it into the room shining off the brass detailing.

Where was he?

He'd been out for hours, it looked like. It had been the dead of night - or maybe the early morning. It had been raining.

There had been lightning. A bright flash and a lance from the sky that barely gave him enough time to push Sakura out of the way before he'd been struck.

Had they won? Naruto couldn't imagine being alive if they hadn't. They'd all been gunning for him by the end, after all.

Throwing his legs over one side of the bed, he cast away the blanket over him and attempted to get up.

Polished wood cracked beneath his feet. Naruto looked down to see how it splintered around the soles of his bare feet. He could feel the sharp edges push against his skin, but he felt no pain and he could see nothing had pierced skin.

At this, he blinked.

He could see clearly. Every crack, every line, every pint that pushed against skin that wouldn't break. He turned to the window to see the curtains drawn and to the light above to see it wasn't on, then back down to his feet.

Naruto saw clawed toes. Those were new. He looked to his hands and saw they were the same.

"Wha-" When he opened his mouth, he felt his teeth changed, too. Fangs, a full row of them.

Was this what the fox meant?

Footsteps thudded towards his door, shadows blocked the light coming in through the space at the bottom before it opened. His mother looked down at him, her own eyes wide and her shoulders almost heaving. From worry or exhaustion he wasn't sure.

"Naruto-kun." Her smile was tentative, but he thought he might have caught relief there. "You're awake. Good. How're you feeling?"

He took a moment to think here, unsure what the right answer was supposed to be if there was one. Maybe there wasn't, but there were some things that needed to be talked about.

"I have claws, Rin-chan."

At this, she laughed.

"And it looks like your hair's grown back, too."

What!?

~TtT~

He'd settled down after that, his dad coming in shortly after. Jiraiya had apparently needed to calm down everyone that had started rushing towards the room. Naruto's awakening had caused a concerning amount of chakra to pulse throughout Gatou's residence in the Land of Waves.

Naruto was told he'd likely have to field a few awkward questions from his teammates, though. Fortunately, Jiraiya reassured him that he wouldn't be getting bothered by anyone from the Kiri contingent. He'd taken care of that. Seems both he and Rin were pretty familiar with the Mizukage's daughter, Kagami.

What brought him immense relief, however, was that everyone from his team was alive and relatively uninjured. He'd been the one most hurt during the battle, and he'd come out of the fine thanks to the Kyuubi and Sakura's efforts.

"I gave you a check-up once we regrouped, you're in good health." She vaguely gestured towards him. "Non-human bits aside."

"About that," Jiraiya cut-in, his parents sharing a brief look. "I imagine you're wondering what that's about?" At Naruto's nod, he continued, "The seal's doing some changing to the chakra you're getting from the Kyuubi. It's your father's doing."

That much Naruto had figured. "How's it work? The fox said his chakra normally helped as soon as he sent it. Why'd it take so long this time?"

At this, both his parents' eyebrows rose. "I didn't even know you were already talking to the big lug. Well, good to hear that he's probably being friendly enough if he's told you about your mother." He wove a hand before continuing. "Anyway, the seal you have is a bit experimental. Your father was wrestling with the theory in the leadup to Kushina giving birth, and wondered if there were… eh, improvements he could make to the seal for future use.

"In any case, the idea was to have the chakra be converted on its way to you from the Kyuubi, which is why you barely have any of the Kyuubi's influence even with that much chakra going through you."

Naruto took in the sight of his clawed hands. "So this ain't normal?"

It was his mom who answered, "Not by jinchuuriki standards, no, but that's not a bad thing."

"As for why it took so long," Jiraiya added, "The seal hasn't handled that much power since your father put it on you. It's like when you turn the water on for the first time. Takes a bit for it to go through the pipes." He winked, grinning. "Shouldn't be too much trouble in the future."

Naruto wanted to ask more about it. He didn't feel that different. Breaking wood had been effortless. He hadn't even thought about it.

Instead he listened while Jiraiya told him about his trip to Ame, about how his cousin Sayoko had managed to get into the daimyo's palace in Ame and got mud all over the main hallway, about how busy his uncle had been.

His claws had shortened and his fangs had blunted. Naruto looked at his nails while Jiraiya told of how much time he'd had to make to get here before things got any worse. Naruto could admit to himself he was grateful for that. He'd be going back to Konoha with his team intact and one hell of a story to tell for his first mission out of the village. The guards Izumo and Kotetsu wouldn't believe it.

Naruto blinked.

"How many did we lose from Komamura-taichou's men?"

They hesitated. Naruto felt his fanged teeth grind in his mouth and resisted the urge to clench his fists. He didn't know if he'd hurt himself that way, and he wasn't in the mood to really try yet.

Naruto had opened his mouth to ask them again when his dad answered first. "Over half of the guardsmen didn't make it."

He'd leaned back into his pillows before he knew what he'd done, taking in the now-lit room around him. The fan's blades spun overhead, the brass reflecting the lights, reflected the fire and lightning and stormy sea, blood and blade and death. Naruto's eyes darted to his parents and he could see the humor drain from their faces, too. They looked as grave as he felt.

"So what was the point of it, then? We didn't even manage to protect the port."

And he'd killed all those people, too. Maybe he'd killed more than anyone else during the battle. Three ships scuttled, and he wasn't sure if anyone actually managed to make it out of there. After that, there had been the melee, which he'd been no slouch in. He'd tried to incapacitate, but he couldn't always do that without putting himself at risk, and the Rasengan wasn't exactly a jutsu that left much behind if you weren't strong enough to survive it in the first place.

He felt a weight settle on his stomach. Naruto resisted the urge to double over.

"You're all going to go home at the end of this." It was Jiraiya that spoke, leaning forward on the couch he'd pulled from the wall so he and Rin could sit beside the bed. "That's more than a lot of the guardsmen, and even more of the raiders are ever going to be able to do."

"And that's because of what you did, Naruto-kun." Rin interjected, grabbing Naruto's hand and giving it a squeeze. "You'd have been overrun from the outset if you let those ships make landfall, and the fighting would have made it into the city proper if you and your clones hadn't held that line."

Jiraiya nodded, "Fighting in a city that was a raging bonfire would have only made matters worse, and livelihoods would have been destroyed, too, and not just lives lost."

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown. "That seems like a cold comfort to the families of the guards that died, Jiraiya-jii."

"It is." Rin said, "But there is little that can bring them back, and at least the price for their lives was a hefty sum on their killers. As for their families, leave them to me. The Namikaze Corporation takes care of its own, especially those that made the ultimate sacrifice to protect it."

"And… that's going to be enough?" Naruto was sitting up now, his hands wrapped around the front of his stomach.

"Nothing's bringing those people back, Naruto-kun." Rin replied, "The best we can do is make sure their lives weren't wasted. So we'll make sure that their families can keep the lights on and put food on the table, maybe pay for apprenticeships for their siblings, children, or grandchildren. We make sure that we help fix the mess we made of this city, make sure its citizens can go back to their lives and rebuild, because losing loved ones is hard enough when, much less when you've lost your home and the means you put food on the table.

"There will be pain, but we'll do our best to minimize the suffering."

That… that made sense, Naruto supposed. "Is it always going to be like this?"

Neither of his parents spoke, silently asking him to elaborate.

"I get that this mission was pretty darn out there." He shrugged, feeling his hands clench into fists against his stomach. "But when push comes to shove, are we always going to lose people? Going to need to… to…" He paused, images of his tanto flashing in the storm and the many terrified faces that followed.

"The first choice we make when we decide to fight is to accept that death is going to be a part of that." It was Jiraiya that answered. "Either we die, or someone else does. It won't always happen, but it will at some point."

"Not even chichi-ue managed it, did he?"

Both his parents shook their heads. Jiraiya answered, "You'll arguably have the most blood on your hands as Hokage, Naruto-kun. You either take the most lives yourself, or your decisions do."

Rin then added, "But think about it this way, your actions helped save even more lives. The lives of your team, the lives of the Kirigakura ninja - because Kagami-chan told me about how your clones made sure Kisame hadn't killed them outright - and the lives of the people of the Land of Waves that might have faced starvation or worse with the destruction of their city."

Brown eyes burrowed into ultramarine, "You'll decide how those lives are spent, and you'll decide if those lives were worth it."

"Does it ever get any easier?"

His parents looked to each other then back to him. Both shook their heads, but it was his dad that spoke.

"It won't, but you'll learn to live with it."

~TtT~

The clean up had been rough.

Haruno Sakura was thankful that the Konoha reinforcements were there to help them, because she didn't know how she was supposed to get all of the injured to the hospital herself.

Calling it a hospital was a stretch, though. Rin - Murasaki - had commandeered the employee dormitory closest to Gatou's manor and had it converted into a hospital. With Jiraiya backing her up, the Konoha shinobi acted without delay. Doctor Onigumo had been in charge of making sure all of the preparations were done correctly while Murasaki had started dealing with the most serious cases. Sakura had been tasked with dealing with ones less serious.

Tools were cleaned, beds were set, bandages taken out of storage scrolls. It seemed that the dormitories were supplied well enough to handle over thirty people being brought in for major and minor injuries. That was more than she expected of a small city like the land of waves. Sure they had Doctor Onigumo's clinic, but he'd told her that he was ready to handle serious cases of small groups of people. This was easily double or triple that.

Still, she'd gotten to work shrinking major wounds and bandaging up minor ones after making sure they wouldn't get infected. Onigumo's nurses had been brought in to assist after the first hour, and had been a huge help in getting all the less serious cases addressed.

Sakura could barely keep standing after the battle ended and the adrenaline left her, this second wind was going to leave her crushed, she was certain. She'd already downed one soldier pill when they were moving the injured, and she'd helped get Haku to a bed. The older genin had taken three.

Thankfully, the worst of the older girl's problems was overuse of the soldier pills and chakra exhaustion. Nothing some rest wouldn't fix, and she'd have more than enough time to do that. She'd heard from the Kirigakure captain, Zabuza, that their client fleet would be staying in town for longer. She had a pretty good idea why.

Hours later, she'd been pretty tuckered out. The energy from the soldier pill was starting to wear off, and her adrenaline was long gone. It was late afternoon now, and she'd not slept in over thirty hours.

It was jarring to think she'd been at a house party just the night before, having a good time with the local kids and telling stories with Naruto.

Sakura flopped onto a couch that had been set aside in their break-room, what had been one of the offices for whoever was managing the dorms. She'd taken a bottle of water from the cooler that was put there by the Konoha jounin, and took a deep swig.

Heat started to leave her body. Despite the storm from last night, the hospital was busy enough that she felt herself work up a sweat. Part of her wondered why she bothered to change out if she was going to end up all wet again, anyway.

"Here."

Looking up, she saw the plastic-wrapped case of three onigiri. Holding it was doctor Onigumo, dressed in his dark robes from last night with a bloodstained apron wrapped over it.

"You need the energy. I know you had one of those pills you ninja use, but you're going to need to make up for it."

Nodding, Sakura took the offered food and opened it. She could smell the faint fishiness. Tuna mayo.

It took her less than ten seconds to scarf down the first riceball, thirty more to do the second.

The doctor laughed before reminding her to drink water so she didn't choke. Taking the advice, she enjoyed a few more gulps, feeling a satisfied sigh burst from her lips. Sakura knew she was crashing, but the food would make it less a burnout than it cold have been.

Onigumo laid out a large paper bag filled with what was probably more food on the table for the other nurses.

"So what's the final tally?"

Just like that, any wind she had building in her sails were taken out. Sakura slumped against the back of the couch.

"We lost over half of them." She said, "Half of what's left are looking at permanent crippling."

Onigumo didn't answer at first. She imagined that he noticed it, the way she felt. Whether it was her posture or her voice, Sakura wasn't sure.

"It's almost five-thirty, isn't it?"

At this she blinked, looking up from the hardwood tabletop that she'd kept her eyes on to clock on the wall. It read just a few minutes before five-thirty. Still, that hadn't been what she'd expected to hear from the doctor in response to what she'd said. Looking to him, he, too, was looking at the wall clock.

"Wha-"

"Why don't you come with me, eh, Haruno-chan?"

The doctor was standing up before she got the chance to answer, heading to the door and pausing to look over his shoulder with an eyebrow raised.

"Well?"

She'd originally intended to get some rest, but would she be able to? The longer she sat by herself the more she just thought about everything that'd happened. Maybe the doctor had something in mind?

Getting up, Sakura followed him out the door and into the hallway. Instead of turning towards the makeshift ward that'd been put up like she'd expected, he'd walked them towards the front exit, passing through the oaken double-doors. Leaning himself against the railing of the porch, he finally addressed her again.

"How's your teammate doing? The blond one."

"Na-kun? He's recovering. Murasaki-sama said he'd make a full recovery, and she went to check on him an hour or so ago."

At this Onigumo nodded. "He was the one that got struck by that light blast, wasn't he?"

Sakura nodded slowly, a bit unsure where this was going.

"How serious were his injuries?"

The image of her downed teammate came back. Hair burned away, clothes singed, flesh practically on fire and skin marred by lightning scars. That had been when she'd just gotten her hands on him.

Onigumo must have seen the gravity on her face because he took her silence as an answer. "And from what the other nurses have told me, he's alright now. Recovering in Gatou's house."

When she'd last seen him while he was being carted away to Gatou's manor, he'd been whole. Bald but whole. She could almost imagine his reaction to being bald. Spirits, even his eyebrows were gone.

"He made it, yeah."

"You did that."

Sakura considered him. She had, hadn't she?. While Naruto had been alive after Raiga's jutsu had hit him, it was a close thing. He might not have made it to Murasaki coming back from her fight with Uchiha Itachi, had she not healed him.

Her gaze had drifted around, to look at the trees that surrounded the dormitory. The winds hadn't been strong enough to uproot any of them. They almost shone in the late afternoon sun as the orange glow bounced off the drying leaves.

"Yeah." She nodded, turning to the doctor. "I did."

"That's one more person that's going home because of you, isn't it?" He was smiling down at her, dark blue-green eyes shining. "That's one fewer person we lost."

She turned back to the garden, a weight that had settled in her stomach she hadn't even been aware of seeming to lighten.

"Onigumo-sensei?" The call had come from beyond the dormitory fence.

A woman approached, a few years older than Sakura was with her dark hair in a bouncy-looking bob and a spring in her step.

"A Karin-chan!" The doctor turned around and sent the woman a wave as she stepped unto the gravel path that lead from the gate to the dormitory's front porch. "Glad you could make it."

"Of course." Karin answered, something shining in her eyes Sakura couldn't place but seemed distinctly familiar to her. "Once we got back into the city, I'd been waiting on news. So he's awake?"

Onigumo nodded, grinning. "Been up for half an hour now. It's why I sent word."

Taking her first step unto the porch and exchanging bows with the doctor, Karin turned to Sakura before looking back to Onigumo. "Is this her?"

"Yes."

Sakura had to suppress the urge to push away at the sudden hug she'd gotten from the older woman. Not that she wasn't used to the affection, she wasn't used to getting that from strangers.

"Thank you, Haruno-chan!"

"Wha-?"

"Karin-chan is Goro's older sister." Onigumo clarified, crossing his arms and sending a smirk more than just a little smug Sakura's way. "You remember Goro-san, I'm sure?"

She did.

"I've been told that my brother wouldn't have made it without you." The woman's dark eyes met Sakura's as she broke the embrace. "You have no idea what that means to us." Without missing a beat, she turned back to the doctor, "Can I see him?"

"We've been waiting here to show you the way." The doctor answered. Opening the door and holding his hand open, he added, "We'll show you the way."

And they did, walking Karin through to the ward. She didn't need any help after that, immediately finding her brother and greeting him with a hug that Sakura supposed could have only come from relief at a loved one coming back alive.

It had been such a touching moment that Sakura almost burst out laughing, when Goro - who was more than a little built - got a punch from the much smaller woman.

"Do you see that?" Onigumo said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You did that. That family is whole because of you."

Sakura nodded, still not taking her eyes off of the sight. Now that she was looking at it, other relatives had come in to visit the survivors, groups of people that radiated relief at their husbands, sons, and brothers made it home.

She'd done this. These people made it home thanks to her help.

"Hold on to that feeling, Haruno-chan. Never forget it. And when things are bleak, remember this. Remember each of these people and everyone else you'll ever save. It's what keeps us going."

Finally, she looked to the doctor to find him looking down at her with pride and no small amount of conviction.

"Because we're never going to be able to save everyone, but every one we save matters."

~TtT~

Nohara Rin, found herself seated on the balcony attached to Naruto's room. She'd put together two pots of tea. One for herself and another for the kids. Sakura dropped by shortly after she'd been told that Naruto was awake, though Sakura had already passed out on the same plush seats that she and Jiraiya had used earlier that day. Poor girl had been exhausted.

Really, all of them were pretty out of it. Sasuke had told her he'd been in their own dorm room trying to catch up on what rest he could, not that it looked like he'd had much success if the bags underneath his eyes were any indication.

Kakashi was going to need to have words with that boy if he hadn't yet. Or Izumi should. Rin would see if the girl would be able to talk to her cousin. Maybe she'd have an easier time breaking through to the boy.

Under no uncertain terms, the whole affair had been a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Several years of work had gone down the drain, lives had been lost, and her boy had nearly been killed.

Raiga had done well to keep it from getting personal, even going so far as to forgo any further hostilities after he and Kakashi had talked terms. Rin would have had a vested interest in making sure the man was dead, otherwise.

Honestly, she still had half a mind to send someone after the missing-nin once she had the time to make arrangements for it if not for the fact that he was pretty ruined, himself. She hadn't had too good an idea of his overall situation, but the losses he suffered for what should have been a relatively clean-cut battle had been staggering. No, Raiga had been closer to limping away with the shattered remnants of his fleet than sailing off into the sunrise, the clear victor.

And while this was a setback for them, it wasn't a backbreaking one. The corporation could easily afford to have a new port built, and with the damage done to the older docks they had the perfect excuse to renovate that too. Some corners would need to be cut since they were now short on time, but they had some ways to make that work.

Still, this might not have happened if they'd just been able to repel the attack out of hand. Pointless to think now, certainly, with everything already done but she couldn't help it. She'd come back from what was supposed to look like a serious fight with Itachi to find her son partially recovered from a grave injury and Jiraiya picking up the pieces. The port she'd been sent to inspect gone alongside a good number of the guards they'd brought to protect the place.

Blood and gold and time thrown away like it was nothing.

Her fingers tapped on the ironwood armrest of her chair while the felt plush hugged her back. The sunset cast everything around her golden.

The door to Naruto's room slid shut as Jiraiya took the seat beside hers. The small table with the teapot and the extra cup between them. He poured himself a cup and took a sip, sighing.

"I'd wager it's someone from the Land of Tea." He said, leaning back after putting his cup down. "They're probably the ones getting hit hardest with the canal being built."

"That makes them the most probable perpetrators, but it's hard to be sure." she answered, "Though the info we got did mention that the Akatsuki were spotted there before they joined up with Riaga's Raiders."

"Do we know which city?"

Rin shrugged, Jiraiya chuckled.

"Well, we have somewhere to start, at least."

That they did. Rin would see if she had any contacts that had touchpoints there. The Land of Tea wasn't a place she'd really cultivated, though maybe Jiraiya had some contacts of his own there. Besides, they had photos, so one of theirs had definitely been the one to take that.

She took another sip of her tea before refilling both their cups. Rin turned her eyes to him. "Thank you, by the way. For coming."

"How couldn't I?" There was something in his eyes, something soft. "You two were in trouble."

Rin felt some warmth at the immediate answer. There had been no hesitation there. Part of her felt like it shouldn't have been that surprising. Jiraiya had spent the past ten years proving he'd be there for Naruto and her, and hadn't failed yet. But this had been the first time they'd needed him in his capacity as a fighter, to some degree their first test as a family unit. Jiraiya had passed with flying colors.

While she hadn't.

It was… unreasonable to think, honestly. She'd done her part. There wasn't really anyone else that could really keep Itachi at bay with any kind of plausibility. Genjutsu had been part and parcel of the younger man's toolkit and he was more than capable of just trapping Zabuza and Kakashi with it and moving on. Nevermind that Itachi might have been unwilling to hurt his brother, he'd have been forced to to maintain his cover.

That isn't to say there hadn't been opportunities for her to have an impact on the battle, however. She and Zabuza had nearly taken out Kisame. A few seconds more or a few more options to overpower the man in close-quarters and they may have had him.

Instead, they may have suffered more losses if not for Jiraiya's arrival and the deal Kakashi had cut. Even worse, she hadn't accounted for the fact that their son might have become a priority target during the battle, not in the way he had been.

They'd overestimated the clones and how he used them, and underestimated their enemies' ability to track the real one down.

"I've been thinking." Brown eyes met black. "What do you think about the three of us going to the old inn? Naruto hasn't gone yet, has he?"

"Aren't the chuunin exams in a little over a month?"

Jiraiya nodded. "A month is plenty of time. Two, maybe three weeks there should do him some good.."

Rin blinked. "I don't think Hokage-sama would be too keen on letting the team split up for a vacation of all things this early on, Jiraiya. Besides, didn't he want you there as part of security? He'll want you to coordinate with Danzo-sama about it."

The sage clicked his tongue at that, and Rin could understand. The Hokage had been trying to pull Jiraiya into taking more responsibilities with the village for months now, years even if she counted the few times Sarutobi Hiruzen joined them on the weekly dinners and asked if Jiraiya about staying in the village more.

Honestly, Rin couldn't say she minded, but with her traveling more often these days now that she got back to working, it'd just be their switching places to keep an eye on Naruto. It wouldn't be bad, but she wasn't sure how much of an improvement it actually would be.

Jiraiya sighed, almost slumping back into his chair. "I guess we could come up with some stuff for them to work on back home. I'm sure you can pass Sakura some stuff when you're free while Kakashi deals with the Uchiha brat."

Well that wasn't fair. Rin still needed to take care of some things before she could be back. "I have to get back to the inn," She failed to suppress the giggle that erupted from her at the look on his face. "Someone has to tell them about what happened and to get stuff adjusted. I'll be quick, I promise. An extra week at most."

"Fine." It was almost as petulant as their boy sounded when he couldn't have his way. Her grin was back full-force. "Guess I'll take care of Naruto's thing for now. How about Sakura's medical training, then?"

"I'm sure Danzo-sama can get her apprenticed under Yakushi Nono-san for a few weeks." she answered before taking another sip of her tea. She could hear laughter coming from Naruto's room. Good. "What do you think you can teach Naruto in the meantime?"

"I'm sure I'll figure something out. Naruto got his first taste of nature chakra. Guess I can teach him a little about how to use it."

~TtT~

"Sasuke."

It came as a whisper, so unlike the way it had in years past.

Uchiha Sasuke knew that voice. He knew it very well. It was the first voice he heard in the morning and the last one he heard at night. It was home.

So it twisted his heart to once again have the dream where he saw her death.

Again, the sky was red. Again, the night was dark. Those that came for them were shadows in the night that held up torches and blades.

He'd been confident this time. Sasuke had thought he'd be able to stop them. When he'd first had these dreams, he'd been a child. Freshly broken from the loss of his family and unaware of the ways to protect what was yours.

This time he was stronger, this time he was tested.

But like before, he failed.

Unlike before, the shadows were faster, stronger. They wielded blades like he'd only seen demonstrated by jounin like Mitarashi. They danced around his jutsu like children. Sasuke had been played with, tossed about when they finally deigned to strike before they struck at Izumi.

He'd been left to the pieces. Izumi bleeding out beside him as he held her, calling for help. Sasuke thought to seek out Sakura, or maybe even Rin, but he'd been held back.

Warm eyes, glowing red in the night, looked up at him. He could see the tears running down her cheeks even as she smiled.

"Sasuke."

She wouldn't let go, and all he'd be able to do is stare into her eyes as the light faded.

Then, just like they had years ago, it happened again.

Sometimes he'd recognize the faces attacking him, sometimes they were some of the few raiders that managed to get close. Sometimes they were masked or faceless, too shaded by the darkness.

Once or twice it had been his worst-case scenario. Itachi, his once-brother, finally there to collect on the promise he'd made years ago. He'd fought tooth and nail, wielding every bit of the power he'd gained in the years since the Massacre.

Itachi was a ghost, a part of the night that surrounded them. Only his eyes ever told Sasuke where he was.

And then he'd be holding Izumi as she died one more time while she whispered to him all the way till he woke.

It was dark when he did. He could still hear the ghost of her voice somewhere in the back of his mind as he peeked through the drawn blinds to see little slivers of sunlight climbing over the horizon. Sasuke slept for longer than he'd intended.

Clicking his tongue, he turned to the clock before getting dressed. It was seven in the evening. He was supposed to meet Sakura at the makeshift hospital half an hour ago. They were supposed to visit Naruto. See if he was awake and feeling better.

Sasuke was fully dressed after a minute. Covered in his usual shirt and shorts with an extra jacket to keep him warm in the cold night. He'd been about to head to the door when he passed the room's only mirror.

His Sharingan were active, two tomoe spinning in each eye that he stared at in quiet wonder.

Right. He'd finally gotten his Sharingan.

Sasuke didn't know getting it was going to feel this shitty.

Blinking and cutting off the chakra that he only now realized he'd been sending to his eyes, he looked to the charcoal pupils the dojutsu had replaced. He was out the door a moment later.

The cool air coming from the sea was pleasant. Their dormitory was along a hill and afforded them a commanding view of where the port used to be and let a lot of the wind to get to them. Under most circumstances, the coastal wind was welcome. Instead, Sasuke raised the collar of his jacket as he felt his hair get whipped about.

He'd nearly lost a friend yesterday.

They'd lost a lot of people, honestly. He wasn't that close with the guards, but they were good folk. On the more quiet nights of his shift he'd shared stories with them, and heard about the pains of dealing with young children and long-distance relationships. It had been weird to be getting advice for something he hadn't even thought about yet, but he'd filed some of it away. It reminded him of why he liked working with Izumi at the bakery.

It was hard to think that some of those children would now be fatherless. Those parents would now be sonless, siblings brotherless. Sasuke knew what that was like. He hoped they'd manage.

But seeing Naruto just about die hit him harder.

It hadn't been unexpected. The other Azuchi children had practically become his whole world after the Massacre. The Namikaze had been the one to help him with his recovery, and the other kids had kept up with him after. He knew part of that had to do with Izumi always bringing him up the mountain. He was thankful she did.

They'd been there the earliest, before he got to know the neighbors and the regulars to Izumi's bakery, and they understood better. They were ninja, too.

And he'd almost lost one of them.

Rage had been his first reaction, a fierceness that welled up from deep inside him when he'd seen his friend struck down and Sakura broken by the sight of him. He'd held the line and fought to make sure no one could get to them while she healed him. His Sharingan helped make it possible.

He'd seen attacks so clearly as they came, saw jutsu as they were formed, and saw the chakra in the air. It made the fighting child's play. Was it like this for Izumi, too? She rarely ever talked about her Sharingan, though she told him what it did. The experience was just so different.

So he fought, getting into the thickest of the melee for the first time since the battle started, even taking on one of Raiga's veterans with Sakura. They hadn't quite won, but they managed. At that point, Sasuke was happy they got out of the battle relatively unscathed.

The street took him down the hill towards the city proper. Lights were being turned on, and he nodded to the locals that greeted him along the way, though he couldn't quite place all of them.

It was easy for him to spot Gatou's manor. The dorm across it was the biggest giveaway. Sasuke could still see the lights on and people coming in and out, even though it was getting late and visiting hours were probably ending soon.

The samurai-trained guardsmen were worthy of respect. Sasuke would make it a point to visit them tomorrow. With a pair of swords and some basic chakra skills they held the line against a force over twice their number and power. It had amazed him, the ferocity with which they fought, and the steel in them to hold in what might have been considered a hopeless situation.

Because it felt like one to him. Sasuke could see it as well as any of them could. They'd been losing.

Still they fought, and they found strength to take down the shinobi-trained raiders.

He knew what was at stake for them. Family, livelihood. Their futures were dependent on their ability to protect the city and the port. And while they might have lost Kinami-ko, they managed to protect the city.

That was the power you gained by having something to protect.

That was why he got his Sharingan. He'd almost lost someone important to him, and he'd gotten the strength to make sure that wouldn't happen again.

And Sasuke would make sure he'd keep ahead of that curve as best he could.

~TtT~

Nohara Rin poured out tea for two cups before leaning back against her chair, quietly enjoying the coastal winds while she watched Jiraiya go about his work.

Under normal circumstances, she'd still be resting. After the battle had ended, she'd immediately focused on getting as many of the injured treated, her son most of all. Thankfully, between Sakura's healing and the Kyuubi's help, she hadn't needed to do much and could focus on the others instead.

Jiraiya had handled some of the initial cleanup and repairs with the aid of some of the Konoha reinforcements. Rin opted to get it filed as a mission that the corporation would cover. The chunin and jounin may have been exceedingly overqualified for the job, but Rin doubted they minded the easy money.

And while she'd have preferred to still be sleeping right now instead of up and about by midmorning the day after, it would be much easier to get this all done sooner rather than later. On the bright side, she could accompany Jiraiya as he got a headstart to the foundation work of the port while she got her own work done.

Besides, this meant she could enjoy the sea air and a lovely view. It was impressive how quickly they managed to get rid of all the flotsam.

It wasn't like Naruto needed her right now, anyway. He and Sasuke were visiting the people still in their makeshift hospital while Sakura caught up on her own rest. Onigumo was an experienced enough doctor to handle anything unexpected that might happen.

"You wanted to see me, Murasaki-sama."

Turning away from the sage, Rin looked to see Gatou entering the shade of the gazebo tent that had been setup for her. The older man still dressed sharply despite everything that happened yesterday. While he hadn't been involved in the fighting, he had spent the entirety of it holed up in the caves with the civilians. She'd have forgiven him for not being the best put together.

Her mask and hat were off and on the table, though she'd had her tattoos hidden. A little bit of chakra also allowed her to maintain the amethyst eye color indicative of Skyscribing use even when she wasn't actively using it. Rin knew she was a plain-looking girl, and having indicative markings swapped about made it much harder to identify her.

For the Namikaze, the purple eyes were useful. Most of the older members of the clan had them. It became permanent with use of the bloodline, much the same way her blood was almost completely black now.

Otherwise, she could just as easily turn herself into a brown-haired, brown-eyed woman with no distinctive markings. It was as generic as you could make it if you didn't account for her height and build, which she also shared with many women in the countryside.

She loved hiding in plain sight.

"Gatou-san. Thank you for coming." She gestured for him to have a seat and poured out a third cup for him. "It's black tea." When he moved to take a sip, she looked back out to sea. Jiraiya was raising walls of earth to form the new foundation for Kinami-ko. The mud solidifying to solid stone pillars that reached deep down, stronger and more stable than the old.

"Fast work, isn't it?"

Rin saw him nod from the corner of her eyes. "Yes, Murasaki-sama. Just waiting for the foundation to cure could take weeks, much less getting the digging and pouring itself done. This would have saved us much time."

"I think we'd still want to have the engineers check on this before we get any of the real building started, but this should significantly cut down the amount of time we spend." She turned to him. "We'll be sending someone that's more versed in using ninjutsu for construction work. I'll make sure they're here in the next month, if not earlier."

Gatou nodded before taking another sip. "Having access to that long-term will significantly cut the time it will take to rebuild. I know we wanted to get Kinami-ko operational by the time the Kazemichi-sosui opened. Is that still our target?"

Rin nodded. "We expect construction should be done by the end of the year. We want this port ready by then. As far as we're concerned, any additional expenses are worth it for the long-term returns we'll be getting." She sent him an apologetic smile. "My apologies, Gatou-san. I hope you don't mind staying here till 've done a marvelous job handling everything here, and we could benefit greatly from the rapport you've built with the Land of Waves."

"I'd be happy to, Murasaki-sama." He said with a wide grin. "The people here are friendly folk, so it wasn't really that hard. Besides, we might be able to have the foundation work checked as early as tomorrow. I know just the man for the job."

"Tazuna?"

"Tazuna."

As much as he was a drunkard, the man was arguably one of the most accomplished engineers in the area. Rin had to admit that was terribly convenient.

"That works. Should give us time to have any changes made to the foundation before we send the Konoha ninja back to wherever they came from." Turning, Rin looked over to the eastern side of the port to the fisherman's docks. "What do the locals think of the new docks?"

Gatou must've seen where she was looking. "Good, though most of them are still rebuilding their ships. It'll take a few weeks for any more ships to be put down."

Hearing this, Rin suppressed a frown. "This place doesn't have its own rice fields. I assume they import rice from the Land of Fire?"

"It's the only place close enough to supply them, yes."

"Will they be alright with most of their fishing power gone?"

"I've spoken with Kaiza-san." Gatou answered, "They have enough surplus fish stored as preserves to last them a few months. They normally sell this, but should be able to subsist on it until the fishing fleet is back in full force." His expression became conflicted. "But between you and me, Murasaki-sama, they may have to ration a bit. I've seen the stores, and they're not as substantial as Kaiza-san makes them sound."

Rin nodded, taking another sip before refilling both of their cups. Looking back to Jiraiya she saw that he'd taken a break to speak to one of the local children that had approached. Probably curious as to what the old man ninja was up to. Those always made for stories they could take home. She could remember all the times the children from the orphanage would talk about how they met a powerful shinobi that day and how cool their jutsu were.

Huh.

Yes.

That was important, wasn't it?

"I'll get your budget raised." The kid was cheering as Jiraiya showed him some parlor tricks involving disappearing kunai. She knew the man kept weapons sealed in his armor much like she did. "Get meat imported from the mainland. Sell it at a loss to the locals. That should help get them through the fish shortage."

Gatou started at this, both eyebrows rising significantly past his signature sunglasses. "Yes ma'am." Again he paused, his mouth hanging open. "Though if I may ask, is there a reason we're pushing even more money into this? We're already at a tremendous loss, and the few returns we've had from the new shops we've opened don't even mildly soften the blow we've been dealt."

"That money we'll recover eventually." She answered.

"But definitely not this year, maybe not even the next ten."

Rin shook her head. "I don't actually think we'll be able to in twenty years. We still have to account for operating costs, as well as the beefed-up security." Gatou's look of confusion grew. Rin couldn't blame him. By most metrics, this entire project would have been considered a colossal failure. A smaller corporation that had fewer liquid funds available might have already folden under this.

But that was the big difference. The Namikaze Corporation could handle this.

"But we should be in the green in twenty-five. And we'll be making very good money by fifty."

The poor man was at a loss for words, his mouth hanging open. He took off his sunglasses and set them on the table before rubbing his eyes.

"Do you see that boy over there, Gatou-san?" Rin nodded her head in the direction of the child that Jiraiya was entertaining. The boy was cheering as Jiraiya raised a larger than normal pillar of earth before lowering it again so it'd be level with the rest of the foundation. "That boy will tell his children about how Konoha shinobi hired by the Namikaze Corporation helped rebuild their docks. His parents will remember how we helped make sure they didn't starve when they couldn't find food for themselves and we bled to make sure they could keep their livelihoods.

"They will hear the name Namikaze and remember that we care, and when the next generation comes, they'll hear those stories. Some of their children will travel. Some of them may become traders, or healers, or scholars, or farmers. Maybe they'll settle down in the mainland, maybe they'll settle in another country. Not all will remember, of course, but some of them will.

"The gold we spend now, we turn into goodwill, into faith. Why not do business with the Namikaze corporation? They'll go to any length to make sure those that work for and work with them are taken care of."

His eyes were wide in understanding. Rin could almost laugh.

"Imagine that, Gatou-san. Entire generations raised on having faith in our corporation. If it was good enough for their grandfathers, their grandmothers…"

"It's good enough for them." Gatou finished, putting his sunglasses back on and downing the remainder of his tea. He gratefully accepted her refill afterwards. "You're practically raising your own customers, Murasaki-sama. You'd never be around to reap the rewards."

"Not me, but Naruto's children will. His grandchildren. The same for any other children I do have. We think long-term, Gatou-san. Very long-term. It's the whole reason we've been around for over eight hundred years."

They both went quiet after that, Rin letting Gatou stew on it for a bit.

Eventually, however, they went back to planning. There were other things that still needed ironing out, after all, such as the plans for the memorials. Many of the guardsmen had moved their families to the Land of Waves, but some of them had relatives elsewhere. It would take weeks for them to arrive, so while individual funerals could be done posthaste, the memorial ceremony could wait.

Besides that, there was even more work to be done for those families. A few of them just lost their primary breadwinners, so she tasked Gatou with looking for ways to make sure those families didn't starve. They could look at options from getting the other relatives positions with the corporation, either here or elsewhere, or more immediate assistance if necessary.

After all, some of those families had been working for the Namikaze for generations now. Loyalty should be rewarded.

They also discussed the matter of security, Rin citing that a heavier ninja guard would be stationed at the port alongside Namikaze's more serious defenses being setup. The upper management had always planned to heighten security after the port was operational, but since it had already become a target once, getting it done earlier rather than later was likely the more prudent choice.

Namikaze suffered a tremendous loss here, probably one of the biggest financial losses they'd suffered in the last century, but they couldn't afford to dwell on it, either. Always to the future, always to progress.

Because even if the dragon's horde shrunk, the dragon would grow it again. It would always grow again.

~TtT~

Much to Terumi Kagami's surprise, she found the Namikaze boy talking to her teammates. Those among the Kiri contingent that had needed bedrest had been given one of the smaller rooms on the hospital's second floor. Most of the space - and attention - had been given to the guardsmen.

Kagami didn't mind. The fact that they needed less attention meant they'd gotten off less seriously injured, which was the case. Surprisingly, it had been the Demon Brothers that had gotten injured instead of either herself, Kimimaro, or the captain.

Maybe an argument could be made that they'd been in thicker fighting against more numerous opponents while their side only had to focus on one opponent. It just so happened that taking big hits from that one opponent was pretty darn life-threatening.

Really, Kagami was pretty darn aware of how lucky they'd gotten, and she was counting her blessings. The fact that the younger Konoha genin team had come out of it more or less whole was downright miraculous.

"So is it really as misty as the name kinda implies over there?"

That was about as mundane a conversation topic as it could get, in Kagami's opinion. Namikaze was seated between the brothers, all three grinning at each other as they talked. Kagami was pretty used to seeing both without their masks, but this was probably the first time the younger shinobi was seeing them.

"About as much." Answered Gozu with a shrug. "It's mostly during mornings and evenings. It usually gets much worse during summers."

"Oh yeah," Meizu groaned. "On summer nights, it can get so thick you can't see more than a meter or two ahead of you. It's amazing the ships are still able to get anything done when it's like that."

"That sounds inconvenient." Was the Namikaze kids' oh so eloquent answer.

"It is." She finally decided to let them know she was there. "It's why the foghorns are so important in that area. You usually hear them a few kilometers off-shore. Really hard to miss."

All three sets of eyes turned to her, though she kept her locked on the youngest's ultramarine.

"Kagami-chan!" Both twins called out at once, though neither tried to get up. She liked that about them. They'd gotten comfortable with her, didn't really see her as anything other than their teammate unless it very specifically got brought up like when they had to do something for her mom. That or when it had to do with her being her village's primary jinchuuriki.

"Glad you two are well enough to be bantering with the kid." She said, crossing her arms and grinning. Kagami really was glad that they were okay. She'd heard about what happened on the eastern front. It had been more a bloodbath than their own fight had been. Looking to the other empty beds, she eyed the ones that were empty. "Where's Haku-chan?"

"Getting wheeled around town." Answered Gozu, shrugging. "She was getting pretty tired of being all cooped up in here."

At this, Kagami found herself laughing. Trust the girl that hated being stuck on a boat for prolonged periods of time to want to get out of a hospital room. "And she was completely out of it this time yesterday, too."

"Hah! She was pretty out of it this morning." Meizu added, "I think she just doesn't like the idea of being stuck in bed when there's so much to do."

Not that Haku could do anything about it the way she was. She wasn't seriously injured but her body was very fatigued. Kagami supposed it was the equivalent of compressing three days' worth of nutrients and activity into one day. Or something to that effect. She'd had a hard time absorbing how Haku's condition was being explained when she asked the Konoha genin about it.

Made sense to her, though. You do three days' worth of work and run purely on three days' worth of fuel, and you'd crash pretty hard, too. More power to Haku for being up despite that.

"So what's she doing? Getting a tour around town?"

This time, it was Namikaze that answered, "Sa-chan wouldn't let her leave the grounds, so she convinced Suigetsu-san to just take her to the gardens out back." He gestured vaguely behind him. "They're probably still out there, enjoying the sun."

Ah, to be Yuki Haku and to have your team wrapped around your little finger. Kagami couldn't begrudge the older girl that. Haku was an absolute doll, even if it annoyed her how much her brother mentioned her in conversation at home.

"She'll probably fall asleep under a tree, or something." she said. Then, catching Namikaze's eye, "You busy at the moment? I need to talk to you."

Ultramarine eyes blinked, before turning to the twins and begging off. Both of them were out on one of the balconies overlooking the gardens minutes later. Kagami could actually spy Suigetsu and Haku from where they were.

From the way Suigetsu was lying down on the grass and Haku was slumped in her wheelchair, she was definitely taking that nap.

Once Namikaze closed the door behind him, she'd started by thanking him, telling him that he'd been the reason she and Chojuro made it through Hoshigaki's initial attack on Kinami-ko. While Kagami was confident she might've survived the attack, she was sure Chojuro wouldn't have, and she'd have been unable to contribute to the battle that followed.

She also made it a point to thank him for taking care of her teammates. While they weren't knocked out or put to to sleep so they could be treated, they'd been more roughed up than she'd ever seen them in recent history. Namikaze had apparently been a key part in holding the line during the battle.

Even more importantly, she hadn't heard of anything that reminded her of jinchuuriki power use.

Which led her to the real meat of the conversation.

"So, jinchuuriki, huh?"

Again, ultramarin eyes blinked at her, this time in very clear surprise, and even a bit of wariness.

"I felt it, yesterday, when you woke up." Kagami answered the unspoken question. She figured he might be spooked. She knew she would've been, too, in his position. "It disappeared almost as soon as it came, but I did feel it. The only thing I know that can put out that much power is someone like me."

Honestly, Kagami wasn't all that surprised. Made sense that Namikaze Minato would pick his own kid much the same way her own parents chose her.

Blond eyebrows rose at her statement. "So you've got a…" He paused here, licking his lips as though trying to come up with the right word. "A friend stuck to you, too, huh?"

A friend was a really polite way of discussing it. Maybe Namikaze was on good terms with his bijuu in much the same way Kagami was. From what she'd learned from her mom and from what Jiraiya told her growing up that wasn't always the case, or easy for that matter.

She hadn't seen any examples of this yet, however, since Utakata, the other of Kiri's jinchuuriki, seemed to be on well enough terms with his tailed beast, not that she and the older man were close by any means. Utakata disliked her mother, and was more than happy to be left to his own devices when he wasn't working.

"A friend seems like a good enough way to describe it, I guess." Kagami shrugged and sent the younger boy a grin. "I'm guessing your nine?"

"Konoha's only one, yeah. You? I think Kiri has two, doesn't it?"

She figured he'd know. Did this count as revealing national secrets? Would this get her in trouble with her mom? Actually, wouldn't this also get Namikaze in trouble if his village found out they were talking about this so openly?

Did it matter? Jiraiya knew about her, and he was clearly this kid's sort-of dad, right?

"Three."

Kagami found it funny that just saying the numbers made things so easy to get. Out of context, this must have looked really silly.

"So has Jiraiya-jii ever mentioned me?"

His eyes brightened up at that, his grin widening. Kagami could practically imagine him hopping. "Sort of? He's told me that he's helped out with someone like me, though I don't think he's ever mentioned it to anyone besides mom or me."

That was good, though her mom already warned her to expect Konoha to be aware of her. Hard to bring in a consultant from another country and not have word travel back, especially since Jiraiya was supposed to be one of Konoha's spymasters. Did that mean the kid wasn't in on it, or was he playing along?

Ugh, Kagami hated thinking like this. She really was in the wrong line of work, wasn't she?

Pretty hard to do something else, though. Between both her parents being kage and her being what she was, she was pretty stuck.

Blinking, Kagami actually looked at the boy.

Did it matter, in the end? To Kiri, maybe, but her mom said she'd already taken that into account when she reached out to Jiraiya for checking on her seal. Did it matter to Kagami? To Kagami that knew what it was like to be jinchuuriki.

Yeah, maybe it did.

"Eh, it doesn't matter." She waved it off. "He's mentioned you a few times, though. You're his godson, right?"

This got the boy to laugh, more at ease with her now. Good. "Yeah, though these days he's just my dad now. Same with Rin-chan."

Lucky. Well, not really, but Kagami knew things could've been much, much worse. While she wasn't that close with Utakata, she had been aware of his history. And it hadn't been anywhere near as pretty as hers or this kid's was. Kagami counted herself sort of fortunate, her father's untimely passing aside.

"Yeah." She told him, feeling older than her thirteen years all of a sudden. "It's good, that. You be sure to hold on to it. Real tight."

Namikaze's expression turned serious, his ultramarine eyes hardening. He didn't say anything, but he nodded all the same.

Kagami grinned. That was good enough.

"You're a good kid, Namikaze-san." She gave him a pat on the shoulder and put more force on it than she should have. Kid took it like a champ. She was growing to like him.

"Anyway, sorry for bothering you, but I mostly did want to say thanks. My team means a lot to me, you know?" She leaned against the railing, taking in the sight of the garden below and the sea on the horizon.

"Mine, too. Known mine since we were kids."

"Says the twelve-year-old."

"Aren't you thirteen? Could've sworn the twins mentioned they were just a year older than I was."

"Yeah, but we're chuunin now."

"Guess I just gotta make chuunin now, too."

"Oh?" She sent him a doubtful look, though her grin might've belied her humor. "You'll have to go through my nii-sama since his team's headed to Konoha for the chuunin exams in a few months."

"Then I'll have my work cut out for me!" He crossed his arms. Kagami laughed.

"Better give everyone hell, Namikaze-san. The twins told me you were doing your own thing instead of getting help from your friend. I get it. Mom told me I'd be stronger if I was personally strong, too." She couldn't help but send him a wink, pink eyes flashing with something mischievous. "But don't expect my brother or his team to go easy on you."

"Better believe I'll give everyone hell. And call me Naruto."

"Then you call me Kagami."

"It was good to meet you, Kagami-chan."

"You, too, Naruto-kun."

And so ends this fic's version of the Wave Arc!

I'd hoped that this chapter properly wrapped up the events of the arc while establishing how it affected the kids, which is why each of them get at least a scene each to digest everything that happened and what they learned from it. Part of me always felt that the canon Wave Arc helped iron out what the characters were going to be liked for the rest of the series and I wanted to do that here, too.

Chapter to follow after this is where we finally start setting up all the attendants for the Chuunin exams! I'm excited.

Part of me worries that there's not even anyone reading this fic at this point.

I'd love to hear what you guys think of the fic so far, if you're still here. Please do leave a review.