Yo! I'm back with a vengence...wait I already used that entrance. Oh well! Guess what boys and girls, we have another chapter and this one's a dozy! I won't spoil the surprise but think the movie 'Twisters' and you'll figure it out! Thank you for your reviews andI hope you enjoy!
"Speech"
'Thought'
(Standard Disclaimer)
Chapter 53: Coming Home...
The sun streamed in the window, it was quite bright outside and everything seemed to radiate an aura of peace and prosperity. However there wasn't but a few sparse souls to be found on the roads in Konoha. Even the incessant barking and howling of the Inuzuka household was silent.
It was the day the Akatsuki returned to take their Hokage; it was also the day the Hokage was going to return and finish the Akatsuki once and for all. All had seen and heard the twin explosions that rocked the lands not that far from Konoha. Many had taken to the evacuation tunnels while others, those who had true faith in their leader, stayed behind and awaited the ninja who had defeated the Akatsuki.
Hinata was one of those people. She sat at the kitchen table of her and Naruto's small home, just as she had every other morning waiting for him to come home. She had been up early, reporting to the temporary Hokage Tsunade for a meeting with all of the Jounin. They talked about the huge explosion and shortly after the second one and how evacuation plans would be put into effect if the Akatsuki proved victorious. When the other Jounin left Hinata stayed behind at Tsunade's request.
Tsunade asked Hinata about Kyuubi, how her favorite little grandson was doing. Hinata had no other response than, "as energetic as Naruto-kun was at that age." Tsunade sighed and shook her head, "you have no idea how sorry I feel for you." Both had a good laugh, trying to take their minds off the impending doom that was the Akatsuki.
Hinata found that she had been having these conversations lately, whether it be with Sakura, Itami, or anyone who knew Naruto. Hinata didn't blame them; she was as worried as they were. Besides for the health of Naruto and those who went with him there was no doubt in anyone's mind that if the Akatsuki succeeded they would find Konoha disposable.
So here she was, sitting at the kitchen table staring out into space, her pale violet eyes glazed over yet at the same time attentive to the world around her. "Okaa-chan!" came her sons' voice, shattering her thoughts yet bringing a graceful smile to her lips. It was the kind of smile mom gave you even though you didn't do anything. I was a mother's love for her child.
Hinata turned and looked into her young sons pale blue eyes, dancing with mischief and joy. They had been like this lately since classes had been canceled due to the Akatsuki's announcement but now he stood in the doorway, toeing the ground nervously, "what is it Kyuubi-kun?" Kyuubi smiled wide, Naruto's contribution to the child's genes obvious in his foxy grin, "I was walking home from Suzume's when I ran into a doggy! Can I keep it please!"
Hinata sighed, Kyuubi had the strangest affinity for animals but they had already agreed on having no dogs. Naruto had the oddest flashbacks to the Inuzuka home, "Kyuubi-kun, what have we said about dogs." Kyuubi instantly gave his mother 'the eyes' something he got from her end of the gene pool. "Please Okaa-chan! He's so cool! He's got all these tails and he's gold!" Kyuubi pleaded while Hinata's eyes jumped open in surprise.
"Where is he now Kyuubi?" Hinata asked tentatively. Kyuubi smiled mischievously and pointed, "right behind you." Hinata turned and came face to face with wild blue eyes with the golden edge, he had returned. "So can he keep him?" Naruto asked, a sly smile on his face. "No," Hinata said turning Naruto's sly face into one of shock, "he's already got an owner."
Naruto's smile returned and he laid his lips on Hinata's, both of them ignoring the gagging noises of Kyuubi and his reminders to Naruto that he owed him.
Sakura walked in the door of the Uchiha compound, her swelled stomach showing yet another clan member soon to be. Damn all those merchants for ducking into the evacuation tunnels. Had they no pride in their village and their leader and especially in her Sasuke-kun? Sakura shook her head, once a village of fools always a village of fools she supposed. At least with her and Sasuke's numerous children there would be no shortage of intelligent ninja in the future. Almost all of them had her enormous intellect and Sasuke's talent as shinobi.
"Hello Okaa-san," Suzume said, a passive look on her face that reminded Sakura of her husband greatly. Oh Sasuke was pleased that Suzume had his dark hair but by the gods he had a hard time getting over the fact that his first and second son had pink hair. "Hello Suzume-chan," Sakura said that motherly smile, it didn't matter if all the boys had pink hair or if Suzume got the reputation of a tom boy, she loved all her children dearly.
"Kohaku and Ryuu were getting cranky so I gave them their bottles and changed their diapers. That calmed them down quickly," Suzume said with a smile, she was proud that she could help her parents care for the younger ones of the clan. Sakura gave Suzume a proud smile, "very good Suzume-chan. I'm sorry you had to stay home and take care of them but the babysitter evacuated along with the rest of the village."
Suzume giggled a bit at her mothers tone when she spoke of the village, "it wasn't that hard. Kyuubi-kun kept Ume, Akane, and Sango busy with some of his illusion tricks." Sakura raised her eyebrow, "he didn't scare them now did he?" Suzume shook her head, "no, just played tag and hide and seek. Then he put on a puppet show, he thinks like they do so he knew what would keep them entertained."
"Now, now Suzume-chan, you know Kyuubi-san is older than you," Sakura said waving her finger in mock scolding. "Yeah, by a month, but he acts like he's three," Suzume said with a light laugh, if Kyuubi was anywhere in the area he would have tackled her by now and demanded she apologize. That would get into a fight that most of the time ended in a draw, it was pretty fun in both their minds.
Suddenly, completely breaking their conversation, a swirl of leaves popped out of no where and standing in the center was the Uchiha clan leader, Uchiha Sasuke. "Hello Suzume-chan," Sasuke said with a smile as he ruffled the surprised child's hair. "Hello Sakura-chan," Sasuke said sweetly as he planted a light kiss on her lips, "what's for breakfast? I'm starving for something other than ramen and overly cooked animal."
Itami yawned as she sat at the kitchen table; the news paper was as boring as it had been in the days past. Horror this, death that, Akatsuki the other thing. Couldn't they find something other to write about besides that? "Okaa-san?" asked her son that stood beside her, "got the comics?"
Itami, without even looking through the paper, grabbed two sheets and ripped them out revealing the comics. "I don't want to see them lying all over the front room Kajiba," Itami said with a slightly serious face as she handed the comics to her red haired emerald eyed boy.
Kajiba nodded and vanished with the comics, a small smile on his face as he caught sight of the first strip. Itami smiled to herself, that boy had her temper and attitude. In other words he was a 'badass' from birth. The boy was only four years old for god sake. No matter what she loved him but he got on her nerves some times. Itami laid a hand on her lightly swollen abdomen; maybe the next one would be a little bit calmer.
Itami folded up the paper and left it on the table, placing at the top of the stack that had formed in Zaiaku's absence. He usually read the paper then threw it out; when he got back he'd want to catch up on what he missed. She looked at the clock and read the kitchen clock, it had been some time since the meeting and under the temporary Hokage's orders if no one from the Hokage's team returned in a certain amount of time then they were to officially begin evacuation.
Itami shrugged and got up from her seat, she suspected that Kajiba would be engrossed in his comics for a while so it would be safe to step out for a moment. Itami walked to the door, a bored look plastered onto her face as she reached for the doorknob.
Suddenly, under her grip, the handle turned and the door slowly swung open. Standing in the doorway, holding a couple bottles of sake, was Zaiaku. His body as badly beaten, blood stained a good portion of his clothes. Beyond all of his injures he had a bright smile on his face and his golden eyes were sparkling, "hello dear. You kept the papers right?"
Itami tentatively walked forward and touched his face, "oh gods you are here. I thought your spirit came back to say goodbye." Zaiaku laughed lightly, "yes I am and no I am alive. I brought the best Sake for our celebration dinner." Itami looked at the bottles he carried; it was some of the most expensive stuff in all of Konoha. How he got it was a question of legality but why he got it was something else entirely.
"Zai-kun…you idiot why did you go and why did you come back with Sake bottles?" Itami scolded lightly but with a happy smile on her face. Zaiaku smirked mischievously, "in plain view it's invisible dear." Zaiaku leaned forward and kissed Itami lightly on the lips, drawing back and handing her the Sake.
Itami was stunned; she had no idea how to respond to that. She lifted the bottle up to eye view, it WAS Sake. It wasn't the cheap stuff it was the honest to the gods thing. "Oto-san!" Kajiba yelled as he rushed up to his father who he nearly jumped on. "Oh! Go easy Kajiba, Oto-san's a little sore," Zaiaku said as he backed up and plopped onto the couch with his son on his lap.
"So how many did you beat Oto-san? Two, three? How bad did my old man kick their-" "Kajiba," Zaiaku said with an exasperated sigh, "what have we said about swearing." "But we ARE at home!" Kajiba said while Zaiaku just shook his head. Suddenly Kajiba's squinted his eyes and a confused look crossed his face.
Itami entered the room just in time to hear Kajiba say, "hey Oto-san, when did you get rid of those cool black tips on your hair?" Itami would have dropped the Sake bottles if she was holding them. She stood in the doorway, her mouth agape and eyes wide as Zaiaku turned his golden gaze to her and smiled.
Lee slowly made his way home, his body sore and his clothes in serious need of repair and cleaning. The Green Beast of Konoha, probably for the first time in his life, was honest to god tired. His bowl hair cut had turned into a bit of a shaggy mane since Naruto had refused to let him have a bowl haircut in his realm. His eyebrows, while still prominent, were just a bit smaller too. Naruto said it was an added improvement to Lee's body but Lee swore he would return to 'normal' when he got home.
"Rock Lee?" Lee turned with confusion; he could have sworn he heard someone call his name. "Lee-kun! In here!" sounded the voice again, it sounded very excited and happy. Lee turned in a full circle until he saw it. It was one of his favorite stops in Konoha. It was one of the many curry shops but it was the one closest to his home and in his opinion it was the best in the world.
He smiled and walked in being greeted by a very pleasant sight, the curry girl Yasu was cooking a bowl of her extra spicy curry. "Lee-kun where have you been and what have you been up to? I haven't seen you around here for a few days and you look different," Yasu said as she stirred the concoction to perfection. Lee sighed as he sat down in the seat, a smile on his face as he said, "you have heard of the Akatsuki correct?"
Yasu nodded grimly, "everyone has Lee. They said Hokage-sama took three of the best ninja Konoha has to offer and went off to face the Akatsuki this morning with the Kazekage-sama." Yasu smiled as she handed Lee his bowl of curry, "were you trampled when they called for partial evacuation?"
Lee smiled wide, "no Yasu-san, I've been with Hokage-sama training. We faced the Akatsuki this morning." Yasu nearly fell over, "t-that's where you've been?" Lee brought some of the curry up to his lips and took a sip. "Mmm…it's delicious as ever Yasu-chan. Yes, we defeated them too."
Yasu blinked, "you beat the Akatsuki?" Lee nodded as enthusiastically as he could, "I defeated one, Uchiha Sasuke defeated one, Onigiri-san defeated one, Kazekage-sama defeated one, and Hokage-sama defeated six!" Yasu blinked a few more times, then smiled warmly, "why aren't you in the hospital Lee-kun? You must be tired and injured; it isn't healthy for you to be out and about after such a battle."
Lee laughed lightly, "I smelt some of your delicious curry and I couldn't help myself Yasu-chan." Yasu blushed lightly but it went unnoticed by Lee who was now in curry heaven, if he didn't notice he might later after he had a few hours rest. Right now Lee was happy with his extra spicy curry and kind Yasu-chan, it was a nice break from defending Konoha from the end of existence.
"People of Konoha!" roared the greatest Hokage in all of Konoha's history, the Kyuubi no Kitsune Uzumaki Naruto. He stood before all of Konoha, everyone had come out for this celebration. This was the day, two days after the Akatsuki invasion, that all of Konoha celebrated the destruction of the greatest criminal organization known to the ninja world. The Akatsuki had fallen and it was because of the Kitsune leader of Konoha.
Naruto waved to the public as he was dressed in his official Hokage's robes, a wide grin on his face that reminded many of his childhood days but today was different. In his childhood his grin was false, he wore that mask of overzealousness to hide his pain. However, this Cheshire grin was true. It was his honest to the gods feeling about today. With the three Heros of Konoha standing behind him he felt tall enough to see the other end of the world.
"Lend me your ears!" Naruto shouted instantly silencing the roaring of the crowd, he still knew how to get everyone's attention. "We know why we're here today right?" Naruto asked with his Kitsune ear turned to the crowd. They erupted into another deafening cheer, they were here to celebrate!
Naruto turned his bright smile to the ones behind him, all of them giving him a smile or smirk in return. Naruto whipped around to the crowd, "We are here award Uchiha Sasuke, Rock Lee, and Onigiri Zaiaku medals for their efforts in stopping the Akatsuki menace!" Naruto smiled as the whole crowd erupted in more cheers, he hated using these cheesy lines but it certainly got crowd approval.
Naruto turned to the side, "Uchiha Sasuke, will you say a few things to the crowd?" Sasuke looked surprised but upon hearing a shout from what HAD to be his wife. He shook his head with a smirk and walked up to the podium.
Sasuke cleared his throat and began, "we all started the day the Akatsuki came to give Hokage the message. He told everyone to flee, it sounded like a pretty good idea too seeing as my whole clan stood to lose everything. But then I remembered who this was, this was our leader. This was the man in charge of all shinobi and he was the man that brought me back from Orochimaru shortly before killing the snake."
Sasuke turned to Naruto with his ever present smirk, "this was the dobe that in the academy I thought wouldn't past our first mission as Genin. He rattled off his dreams about being Hokage and now that he has it those criminals were going to use him in some sort of take over the world plan. As a shinobi of Konoha and his best friend there was no way I was going to let that happen."
Cheers met Sasuke's speech, Naruto had to wipe a tear from his eye as he smiled brightly at his best friend. Naruto approached Sasuke and said, "Uchiha Sasuke, as Hokage of Konoha I give you this, the medal of the falling leaf, one of our greatest honors to ever be bestowed upon a living Konoha ninja." Naruto handed Sasuke the medal and both bowed to each other, a true show of respect for one another.
Sasuke went back to his place and Naruto said, "Rock Lee, come up and say a few words!" Lee bounded from his spot, a grin nearly the size of Naruto's on his face as he approached the podium. "I, Rock Lee, never had a chance to truly know our Hokage even though I was in a class just above his own and partook in many missions with him. When I heard of the news of the Akatsuki attempt on our Hokage I knew it was my duty, as a ninja of Konoha to aid our leader in anyway I could."
"When we trained with the Hokage I found myself getting to know him better, I discovered we had more in common than I thought. He worked hard at what he did, if watching him practice his Kitsune magic wasn't enough to convince me then the way he wielded it on the battle field was!" Lee said enthusiastically.
"After learning more about our leader I found myself inspired! I felt powered and KNEW that the Akatsuki's shadow of hate could not extinguish our flames of youth!" Lee said getting a rousing cheer of 'YOSH' from pretty much everybody, young and old. Lee nearly began to cry but Naruto came up behind him, putting his hand on his shoulder and saying, "Rock Lee, as Hokage of Konoha I award you the falling leaf medal. Wear it with pride and prove to all that you are Rock Lee, proud ninja of Konoha!"
Rousing cheers rocked the land and Lee went back to his place, a smile on his face as he fiddled with his medal. Naruto turned with raised eyebrows, a curious look on his face, "Onigiri Zaiaku? Will you enlighten us with a few words?" Zaiaku nodded solemnly and approached the podium.
It was relatively quiet except for those who asked in hash whispers, 'who is that?' Zaiaku cleared his throat and began, "I met Hokage-sama after his 'incident' which turned him into what he is now. I didn't know what to think when I first saw him, I knew he had power but I never was quite sure of how much he had. It wasn't until I witnessed his finishing blow to the Leader of the Akatsuki that I realized how much his power was and how far behind I was."
"When I heard of the ultimatum set by the Akatsuki I rushed to every clan house I could, asking for whatever support was available but many had closed their doors or were unavailable. The Uchiha clan was quick to respond as was Jounin Rock Lee but as time wore on I found it was impossible to find another ninja to fill in the gap," Zaiaku said commanding the attention of the audience.
"That was when I traveled to Suna and back, bringing with me the Kazekage as quickly as I could. I would have tried to find more but I was running out of time so I volunteered myself to go. I wanted to prove myself as a ninja of Konoha not only to myself but also to the Hokage and my family. If those animals wanted to get to the Hokage or Konoha I vowed they would have to kill me to do so. It almost happened too," Zaiaku said taking a breath and hoping to close this up neatly. He never was one for public speeches.
"I didn't know when or how but Hokage-sama granted me my life along with power I had mentally kept in potential and I was able to defeat one of the Akatsuki. I can not thank him enough for letting me prove that I am worthy of the title of a ninja of Konoha, thank you." Silence reigned over the crowd; no one knew what to say until someone started to clap. It was slow to begin, soft and seemingly dieing, but it grew into a loud cheering bonanza.
Naruto laughed as he came up behind Zaiaku and whispered, "a little dramatic but ok, you're welcome." Zaiaku smirked, well that was interesting, he had to work at speaking in public. Naruto turned up his voice and said, "Onigiri Zaiaku, as Hokage of Konoha I grant you the medal of the falling leaf, wear it proudly as a testament to your strength!"
Zaiaku smiled to himself as he went back to his spot, hearing the cheers of his son and wife in the crowd. He couldn't miss their choice of colorful language. Lee smiled wide and reassuringly while Sasuke merely nodded at him. That was the best he had gotten in the entire time they spent training. It was enough.
Naruto turned to the crowd, "that's it folks! The three ninja heroes of Konoha have spoken and received their medals. One last cheer before we get along with the REAL celebration!"
"Okaa-san, is that Oto-san up there?" Kyuubi asked excitedly as he looked up at the stage. Standing at the podium was Naruto, he was bathed in what seemed to be a single beam of light giving him an unearthly appearance as what was common of most Kitsune. Hinata nodded and smiled dreamily, "yes that's your Oto-san up there."
Hinata missed it completely but her motherly instincts didn't Kyuubi had taken off like a shot for the stage, ducking and weaving through the crowd to get to his powerful father. Hinata raced after him as Naruto gave the closing speech; it was supposed to be a SURPRISE that they were there!
No one knew when or how it happened. One moment Kyuubi had latched onto his fathers side, a wide smile on his face as his dad looked down and ruffled his hair. It was the perfect picture of father and son and at any second it would be the sweetest picture any family ever could have.
Hinata jumped onto the stage and took a giggling Kyuubi into her arms, holding him close as he protested to this mother and son touching in public. She set him down and smiled, a mother's love for her child knows no bounds. Hinata's eyes opened wide, the veins around her eyes bulging as the Byakugan was activated.
Without warning Naruto was jumped by his wife, as if she hadn't seen him in years. He was surprised and began to hug her back until his face twisted into confusion then unbridled rage. The stench of freshly spilled blood hit his nose, lodged in Hinata's upper arm was an icy blue kunai.
End Chapter
Fear the cliff hanger and the twister. It shall leave you with the mental age of a five year old! Q and A time!
Q: Blood lines?
A: ...I have never heard of a blood line that revives people after they die. If it is actualy in Naruto then I must have missed it. If you are refering to the bloodline in this story then it does not revive a person. It changes the entire composition of the body and the only reason Amagumo had it was because Orochimaru revived him. Simple as that...I think.
Q: 4 plus 5 equals 10?
A: No it is not a typo. You will see in the future as to what I mean. (special extra chap)
Q: No one died!
A: ...
Well I'm done for now. Thanks for reading and remember to review! Later!