This was originally the final chapter, but I promise the next one is officially it. :)

Chapter Sixteen

The Unfolding - Part Two

Who would have thought that a TRUCE would be the most unexpected but questionable result from all that fighting, and from the most unlikely of sources?

Sasuke and the others were taken out of that lava universe and back into their world, and back to the Divine Tree's location. It was difficult looking at all the people still in their cocoons, dreaming of God knew what and still unaware of what was happening. When they all awoke, they would wind up with more questions as to what had happened to them, what caused this, and so on and so forth.

The bitch killed Neji, almost killed Jiraiya, was gonna turn Itachi and everyone else into her white minions, and yet she had how much sense to listen to the White Zetsu who reneged against her? It was so hard to believe that it made Sasuke wonder what else she had up her sleeve besides Black Zetsu who protested. "No, Mother; why would you think to call off what you've waited eons for? Much less agree to a truce with your sworn enemies who can't comprehend -"

"Silence," was all Kaguya said, her teeth gritted. "I suppose I have no choice in the matter. I am reconsidering, as much as I am loathe to do it." A pause. "I cannot fight against my own people, and the White Zetsu to create can absorb chakra, but can only do so much other than that. And not only that, but they'll be annihilated in a heartbeat. I suppose that while I can drain them of their chakra forces, I shouldn't deprive them of something else that belongs to them. Which is also why I watched over humanity all this time, until my sons rose to me. It's time for a new kind of help I should have thought of before." Then she looked at all of them without a shred of emotion.

"The fight ends right now. But not by erasing all of you here."

And here they were now. All nearly drained of their strengths, upon realizing how much they were. All were on the ground, half-standing or on their knees. Gaara's sand was back in its gourd, and that meant Hinata could hold onto her cousin's corpse as she sobbed and grieved over him, her boyfriend comforting her from behind with his arms around her waist and his chin in her shoulder; his eyes had that faraway look. Behind them, not too far away, Naru's guardians were having a moment:

What are we going to do about White Zetsu? What was left of Tsunade came through mentally, but she won't be able to go back to her old life as though nothing happened. And look at her now: there's no way to change her back.

Zetsu's back was facing all of them; you could see the expressions of the men. Jiraiya's face was pure agony, with the eyes squeezed shut in a futile attempt to stop the streams running down his cheeks. Orochimaru put his hand on his friend's shoulder, but his features strained to not show his emotions. Both of them finally had closure as to what happened to the woman they loved, but never would have thought it would be like this.

"Sasuke." And here he was with the girl he loved, taking her into his arms as they stayed where they were for a little while. She burst into waterworks of her own, the aroma of perspiration and salty tears bittersweet. "How did...how could it have come to this?" Naru rasped. "She didn't destroy us, but - but it feels like the price is too high! Granny Tsunade remembers us, but she's never gonna be what she used to be! Old Man Sage - he's still alive, but we have to get to him! And who else is coming that's worse than Rabbit Granny?"

Before he could answer, her family called her name. Above their heads, Kaguya just watched with expressionless somber. Naru looked their way, exhaled sharply and squared her shoulders for a moment that had clearly arrived, albeit being a bad time when there was more to do.

"You guys...what are you really?" Jiraiya asked through what was left of his tears being shed, wiping them away with the back of his hand. "Some kind of overpowered, supernatural ninjas?"

She lowered her eyes. "Yeah, something like that. It wasn't something we chose willingly or knowingly in the beginning. Long story short, it goes back to that old mine where Gaara's brother and others worked and died at..." And so, she told them the entire story, Sasuke filling in when she broke down sometimes, and it all ended with tonight's events the men were a part of. "We didn't even know what became of Granny until yesterday!" And she didn't even recognize us at the time.

Orochimaru nodded. "You had to keep this from us because you wanted to protect us," he stated.

"And because we were certain you wouldn't believe us somehow," Sasuke agreed. "It was for the best."

"I..." Orochimaru's voice failed him for a second. "You would have been correct a year ago, but now...this is all too much to take in."

"Yeah," Jiraiya agreed, turning his attention to Naru. "You made up the story about the hike so you could try and save us all. If I never knew all of this, I would have done something as though you were a kid again, but we know you're responsible for your own actions." He forced a smile, but it was once again gone when he looked at the thing which had once been his wife. "Tsunade..."

"Jiraiya," White Zetsu replied, head lowering again and unable to make eye contact with anyone, before jerking upright when Naru shocked them all, bursting forward and throwing her arms around the plant thing in a painful embrace that didn't seem to hurt him.

Naru blubbered. "G-Granny, oh, God, what happened to you? What do you remember before you woke up like this?!"

Zetsu turned his head only halfway, taking in the waterfalls pouring over her daughter's cheeks. "I was...driving in my jeep when I saw the flash across the sky, and it landed here at this tree. I should have just come straight home, but my damned curiosity got the best of me. Kaguya imprisoned me." He spat to the ground, figuratively. "If I'd been able to see this happening, I would have still been with all of you."

She'd been on her way home, overcome by professional curiosity, and became a victim at the wrong place and time. This made Naru sob harder, burying her face into that naked, white shoulder, and then Jiraiya was on, his face pushed into a chest which once had the largest breasts in existence, but he didn't give a rat's ass.

It was right then and there that a jolt in the atmosphere caused all heads to raise, at the same time Kaguya came down to land between them all.

"All of you, we will head to the mountain. My son needs you. I promise to all of you that I shall let you release the jutsu rather than myself, and then you will not hear from me until the invaders arrive."

~o~

"Oh, God...we're too late."

They were back in the cave, and nothing had changed - with the exception of Itachi's absence. The presence of the chakra in the cavern crystals was still faint, as they remembered, but upon going through the water with Kaguya in tow and finally arriving in the meeting area, there was the man as they'd left him: still lying in the middle of the area, in the source of his bridge between life and death.

Gaara felt much heavier than before now that his gourd carried the body of his beloved's cousin, and it increased as they beheld the sight of the man who mentored all of them. Hagoromo lay there dead as Neji had been in Kaguya's alternate dimension of fire.

Hinata covered her face with one hand. "This can't be happening..."

Sasuke glared at the woman who was a good three feet away from all of them as they surrounded the inert form of her son she'd personally attacked and left to die. "Are you happy now that you see your own son like this?" Her avoiding eye contact, her silence, and her fixated gaze on Hagoromo were the answer.

Jiraiya gawked at what he was seeing. "So, this...this is the guy called the Sage of Six Paths? Wow, guess we can assume all the other stuff we've talked about for centuries gotta be real, right, Orochimaru?"

"At this point, nothing will surprise me anymore," was all the snakelike man could say, intrigued and distant at the same time. "Never would have thought our first glimpse of him would be this way...it's almost like we really ARE part of a fairytale of our own, isn't it?"

White Zetsu approached the form of the Sage of Six Paths with a somber gait, kneeling down then in a single, graceful movement. "I...I lived in darkness for a period of time, never remembering who I was or where I came from, and all the while, you five fought for all of us," was all he could say. "This man taught you everything and protected you."

"Yeah, and it's wrong to just leave him like this after everything! You think you can try to replace him as well, Kaguya?" Naru shouted, refusing to look at her.

"No, I refuse to replace anyone. No forgiveness for me, but there is one thing I will assist you with. There is a way to save them both, with the four of you combined along with my assistance, if you will accept it..."

If they didn't hate her enough after everything, then they resisted once again, especially Hinata. "You murdered my cousin, almost killed Jiraiya, turned Tsunade into a monster - put everyone under a spell - and now you've found you also took the life of your own son. You expect us to just say yes to that? What can you possibly do that can assist us, as if nothing happened?"

Now Kaguya snapped. "You can cool your tempers now, children. I don't need any of you continually reminding me. You should know that with great power, anything is possible."

With great power...anything is possible.

It seemed as if a light bulb had gone off above all their heads, even when the goddess went on. "Join hands, suffuse your chakra together - and my own - so that you will transfer it into the corpses," Kaguya stated with a hard edge to her voice. "So, do it right now."

They obeyed, being witnessed once more by the trio behind them - Jiraiya, Orochimaru and White Zetsu - and after laying Neji down beside Hagoromo, they extended their hands without direct contact, concentrating everything they had to extend their individual chakra to each other in the unbroken circle. The electricity was palpable, visible even to their own eyes as it extended in five rays down to the targets, enveloping the bodies and working their way inside...

...and two pairs of eyes - one purple with black rings, another clean as the moon - snapped open just as the crystals around the bunch repaired themselves, bursting to life with blue again as if they'd never been maimed.

The chakra waters of the small pool rose and swirled around who they protected, gathering into the familiar whirlpool and elevating him back to where he belonged, floating above their heads and restored to his former glory. And the other man stood back on both feet, wobbling a little as he was trying to get used to being alive again.

"HAGOROMO! NEJI!"

The exclamations were unanimous, Hinata and Naru together going to embrace Neji, and then all gathering under the restored Sage of the Six Paths who kindly and warmly beheld all of them.

"It is good to see all of you, too. And my, what a surprise to see some new faces," Hagoromo told them, acknowledging the awed Jiraiya and Orochimaru, before his expression changed to neutral when he laid his attention on White Zetsu, and then it was pure cold fury when he locked eyes with the woman responsible for everything. "Mother."

"Yes," she replied. "I don't expect forgiveness, nor will I give excuses of my own. But I have seen my errors and intend to free the world, ally myself with all of you until a greater time to come."

And now left one more thing to do, the answer which left the lips of the son himself, since his mother had done more than enough as it was even though she would have followed through on her promise: it was up to Sasuke and Naru alone, because they both possessed enhanced Six Paths chakra.

~o~

To watch Naru and Sasuke unbind the Infinite Tsukuyomi was...the work of the gods, for lack of a better term that Hinata could think about. Just as it had been to bring back both her cousin and their mentor.

All of them were granted an image in their minds as to what transpired as a result of the weaving of a single sign simultaneously - the sign for the ram - courtesy of Kaguya herself, as assurance that it was working:

The sun's first rays rising.

All roots lowering and collapsing, shriveling in the process and shrinking back into the earth which closed up as if it never transpired, but not before releasing the cocooned people back into their previous places.

The people wake up and are befuddled, dazed as their dreams had seemed so REAL, never knowing what had happened to them - except for one who knew better.

And speaking of which, Itachi found his way back into the cave, his only remaining eye alight at the sight of his brother and friends safe and sound, as was Hagoromo, and coldly yet heatedly resentful of Kaguya whom he would never lower his guard around. And it was one heck of a loving moment when they celebrated peace, closure being brought, although it was still far from over. Hinata couldn't let her cousin go for a long time, relaxing her crushing hold on him, and her boyfriend patiently waited behind them both. She knew she'd never forgive Kaguya, at least for a long while. The witch was still the one who started all their troubles, no matter protecting herself from others.

The truce was declared then and there, and they all went their separate ways and back to their lives, but for the Avenger Knights, the scars needed immense work in healing.

It turned out that no one remembered anything that happened, from what the group assessed of the population. It was a good sign, so there was no need for a nationwide or even a global panic. Before the jutsu release, Kaguya erased the memories of much of the populace, save for Itachi as it wasn't right in the slightest, granted he was involved as they were.

Before parting ways with all of them, Kaguya gave them one last surprise, but it wasn't something life-threatening...

...in the form of giving them back Tsunade in a way that would take time, but was promising in that she'd look the same as she'd been before on the outside, though still bearing the White Zetsu biology on the inside. If you don't keep your promise, I'm going to crack your skull myself.

~o~

One year later...

She'd done enough to them as it was. She intended to repent by remaining by her tree, joined with only Black Zetsu left and uneasily close to her son who would have died because of her.

"Mother, you're certain they will not turn on you when your back is turned?"

"Yes, now enough. It's not like I am helpless. Those two are coming for me, and I doubt the White Zetsu will be of any use other than absorbing chakra; they'll be destroyed in a heartbeat. I know that well now, so I will use the children instead."

And until then, the children were back in their own lives, leaning on each other as well as going about their budding careers: Neji was a library assistant, Hinata a kindergarten teacher, Gaara in construction, and that left Sasuke with art collections and Naru a middle school music teacher - and also working on a brand new album, which would be called Age of Wonders and included an instrumental piece of the same name. They also got Tsunade back, so Kaguya was no longer needed. It made her build stone around her heart once again, but it was no less than she deserved after what she put them through.

Granted that memories were wiped, no one remembered Tsunade had been missing for over a year; so, an entire day's work had the moon princess nearly drained herself, but the results were unquestionably astonishing.

She had the memory of any technological device; being with these humans had rubbed off on her in more ways than one. Memory played in part with every crevice and anatomical detail of the human body - at least on the outside - as well as suffusing more than enough chakra to transfer to White Zetsu and let him rest into the tree, enveloped in a cocoon once again, though by the time the transformation was complete, the tree's matter was allowed to be removed from its source and wrapped around the body as a substitute for a dress or real clothing.

Kaguya had never been so overexerted in her lifetime. She slept for days after the process, allowing the restored human - on the outside - to be escorted back to her home and family by Black Zetsu who hid in plain sight from the world as SHE walked the streets of Konoha. The man-like body reverted back to thin but voluptuous femininity, the skin fair as a peach, hair long and golden again but loose over the shoulders and back, and the eyes blazing amber. And of course, those oversized breasts which Kaguya admired but envied. Everything could not be less than perfect.

Tsunade looked exactly as she did before, though on the inside, she still had the biology of White Zetsu in that she didn't have to worry about eating, sleeping, and the other disgusting habits humans performed. However, she would still be able to perform intimate acts with her husband who thought he'd lost her forever. It's the least I can do for them, too.

Watching the woman leave the site of the Shinju Tree, wrapped around in dress-like matter she'd reformed in which she clutched tightly to keep from falling and exposing her beauty, Kaguya felt a strange sense of peace.

That was the last time she saw any of them, only learning of their progress through Hagoromo whom she maintained a strained relationship with when the children were not present. Itachi Uchiha continued to train his distrusting gaze on her, refusing to let her out of his sights. He had a brand new eye transplanted into him, the story to the surgeons being that he encountered a lunatic while out in the field, and a donor was rushed his way just in the middle of the winter season that had followed.

Almost a year had passed, and on this day, she felt the sensations, as did Black Zetsu. "They're here at last, Mother." She nodded, and when she broke this to her son, he closed his eyes and bowed his head, affirming his fears he'd prepared for.

"If only you could help them yourself, Mother."

"Yes, but there is the code of our family. If you were not trapped in this limbo, you could have taken them yourself, my son. We can only stand by and let Naru and her friends save the world once again."

And right now, she was hiding in the trees, presence masked so that no one sensed she was there. Part of the truce was explicitly this: she was not to contact them unless the invaders arrived, but she would rather entrust Hagoromo to deliver the message. It was a damned shame it had to be on a special day like this one. She could only pray it would not be interrupted, since the young ones waited for this...

The whole layout was planned: the forest of maple leaves and others in the varying shades of red, orange, brown and golden yellow. No arch was needed for the naturalistic setting, but the aisle between the thirty guests attending - mostly colleagues and family, especially the estranged ones of one of the couples combined - was of whiskey barrels filled with orange Asiatic lilies, white and red roses, peach carnations, lemon and maple leaves with millet accents, and those same flowers and plants were in the centerpieces at the reception which was around the corner of the space amid more trees; those things were mason-and-burlap jars with the plants joined with miniature pumpkins.

The attention was all on the two pairs who were getting married at once: Naru Namikaze and Sasuke Uchiha, and Hinata Hyuuga to Gaara Sabaku. The latter couple was the one whose distanced families were present because of epiphany, in the forms of both their fathers, but Gaara was still close to his elder sister who couldn't stop wiping her eyes.

Both grooms were in black and white suits and shirts, Sasuke's tie being dark blue and Gaara's maroon; both had red roses and maple leaves attached to the left breast pocket. As for their blushing brides...

Hinata chose to be minimalistic yet hypnotic, the sleek fabric flowing around her legs. The neckline plunged to partially show the plump of her breasts. Over it was a tulle jacket with lace and beading at the shoulders which Kaguya was sure would be removed when night fell and the party would begin. She still wore that cherished pearl pendant and the earrings, and crowning her was a double vine of dainty, bejeweled flowers. Naru was more ready for the excitement through and through: sheathe bedecked with delicate floral embroidery and pearlescent beadwork, beneath a sheer shawl embellished with golden pearls. Her radiant hair was in a braided bun accented with preserved baby's breath and miniature peony buds...and how could she ever be without that crystal from the woman who'd once been taken from her?

When both approached their men, both held in unison a flower ball of white and fiery orange roses, all centered with a crystal. Right behind them were Jiraiya and Tsunade, a family reunited and renewing.

This was what a real family was all about. She herself was a failure of a mother and thought she could impose on these people.

Among the guests were Itachi Uchiha being there for his younger brother, Orochimaru, and there Neji Hyuuga was with his girl who had left him before the Infinite Tsukuyomi was cast. It appeared they were back together, from the looks of the way he held her hand in his.

Traditional weddings in this country were steadily on the decline, and those tying the knot generally preferred this version which came from overseas in the west, so the holy man recited a short story of how these four had all been friends since younger days, and who would have thought they'd be sharing this day together? A good laugh was shared, and there was hardly a dry eye that day.

Kaguya felt a tear of her own fall down a cheek but refused to wipe it off.

Sake was exchanged and sipped as part of the traditional aspects of Japan, followed by blessings which made her wish she could give her own, or that Hagoromo could have been there to do that. After this came the exchange of the rings, which intrigued her to no end. Long before the last half of the century, this was never part of their customs before the last great war.

Hinata gave her new husband something that was the living embodiment of a meteor from the heavens - textured tungsten - and then he in turn gifted her with a crescent-shaped masterpiece of sparkling rounds going to a rectangular one in the center, joining it to the radiant rock framed with sapphires and then diamonds.

Rarely did someone like Sasuke who once was in shadows harmonize with someone who radiated so much sunshine, but this was an embodiment as he received his raw tungsten-over-gold band, in return granting his bride lustrous, fiery leaves alternating with twinkling white to meet with a liquid blue aquamarine within a golden cage bearing heart-shaped cutouts - and at the top of the dome with diamonds forming a flower shape - bringing the pair together for an enchanting look.

Kaguya put a hand over her heart when the two couples locked lips - Sasuke with Naru, Gaara with Hinata - and closed her eyes tightly. How could she have been such a fool, if she didn't say that enough?

~o~

This was the happiest day of their lives. It was often said, and half the time was taken for granted.

It had been almost a year since everything happened, and now that her mother was back - looking as she did, sounding as she did, even acting as she did, although having the biology of the Zetsu - the pain was beginning to seem so far away...

...but it was far from over.

Naru sensed that the ones Kaguya spoke of were approaching. The hackles were ever on the high. But Old Man Sage will send us the message when it's time, as usual, and she'll be there, too.

All their friends being there was a blessing, and their families. Hinata and Gaara apparently were starting to reconcile with their fathers, and it was unlike Temari to shed tears she kept wiping away with Kleenex. Old man Ay and his brother were also there, and thank God no enemies amongst the humans to crash today.

There Neji was, dancing with Tenten who he was back with since the past spring. She was in a dress with a patchwork of pastel flora and geometric shapes, evoking free-spirited love, with soft brown lace peeking out beneath the skirt. She'd ended it with him before, but now those days of his "excuses" were over, and here they were again just after the previous dreaded Tsukimi had passed.

Her parents were just as they used to be. Both did a wild version of the waltz, Tsunade in a dress of water-colored blossoms that conjured up a garden at night and covered by a black shrug; around her neck were amethysts, the purple ones in varying shapes and sizes on smooth beads of the rare icy green. And she laughed when Jiraiya dipped her low and laid one on her for all to see, which was much needed and taking away from no one. Orochimaru couldn't stop a chuckle behind his wine glass; Itachi then raised his glass for just a simple, unspoken toast and with a soft smile.

Both she and Hinata tossed their shawls off and could party freely with their new husbands and everyone else. That, the buffet of varieties, and then the cake cutting; the wedding flowers and autumn leaves were in prominent display in four tiers spiraling on four different crystalline pedestals, pumpkins at the bases front and back, and the tiers themselves were artsy in orange dye, the leafy swirls and flowers in brushwork.

However, a surge of deep and powerful energy permeated the air, and Naru found herself transmitting it to the others who froze just after the red-velvet-and-pumpkin sweetness was exchanged between each other and then divided amongst the guests.

They're here.

The instrumental the Knights come up with, and is also the name of their album, is "Age of Wonders" by Brunuhville. :3 Review in lovin' detail as usual.