Hey people!

Yikes! I know! Too much sadness! Don't worry, you'll soon get the happy times after the next few chapters!

For now, let's continue with the backstory.

First, the disclaimer here. I'm don't any of the characters, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto; just this single plot going on is from my imagination.

Now, to the story, it is!

Chapter 11: The reason of the Return

Konohakure no Sato

Tsunade signalled Asuma to stop and took over. "On one hand, we took action against all those we found responsible for laying hands on her and also erased the memories of all those who knew what had happened and let the false news spread that there had been some rogue Sound ninja hiding in the hospital. On the other hand, we tried to figure out what would be the best course of action we could take for Naruto's well-being. We knew that with the deflection of Sasuke and the hospital incident that her mental state was in a very sensitive position."

"I finally decided that the best we could do was to send her and Ume-chan with Jiraya irrespective of whether she turned pregnant or not. 'Cause that way at least, she would be far enough from the village to not have to relive it every second and also, heal and train for the time period. So we informed to you all that she had left while she was still recovering in the safe house. Only those of us in this room along with Inoichi and Jiraya knew that she was still here. We kept her until she was stable enough to meet Ume-chan and then sent them off."

"A few weeks later, when Inoichi and Shizune went to check on her, they realised that she had again become pregnant. We just let the continue the plan and stay away from the village for as long as it took for her to recover and the village could afford from her being away. Shizune went for the regular check ups. This time though, to be even more discrete, only Jiraya, Shizune and Konohamaru were present for the delivery as Konohamaru had allowed her to leave only have she promised him that".

Again seeing the Rookies' questioning look, Shizune gave them the answer. "A boy. She named him Kaede Uzumaki-Namikaze. He looks a lot like a male version of Naruto and more like a copy of Minato in both appearance and attitude. The only thing he seemed to have caught on from Naruto seems to be his love and ability to throw pranks."

Sasuke tried to picture his nephew and realised just how much he had missed in the lives of his family members. He gave a strangled sob and started to silently sob in Iruka's embrace. He was thankful to at least have Iruka around him when he learnt the consequences of his actions. Iruka had been there for him and Naruto as a brotherly figure, more than anyone else. He had helped both Sasuke and Naruto by being their support and comforting both of them whenever needed. Sasuke was truly grateful that Iruka didn't push him away for his mistakes and instead comforted and tried to help him mend them.

Iruka was hurt and angry at Sasuke for the mistakes he had committed. But he also knew both Naruto and Sasuke and knew how much both hid their emotions and thoughts to protect themselves and everyone else around. He had seen them both from a young age and also considered them like his younger siblings along with Konohamaru. So, he couldn't bear to see the pain that Sasuke felt as he realised the consequences of his mistakes in the past few years. Iruka took it upon himself to comfort Sasuke as he knew that neither would Sasuke accept someone else's comfort nor would others even want to comfort him. It had taken a lot longer for Iruka himself to make Sasuke open up to him. Hence, he took a stand to be there by his side the whole day as he also knew that Naruto would never forgive him if he didn't do so.

They all remained silent, dwelling into their own thoughts. It had become too much for the group of friends to comprehend the next set of incidents that they had been informed of.

"After what the villagers did, she never should have returned. Why did she return then?", asked Kiba.

"Hm… Even to stay away from the Akatsuki, it was a better idea than staying in Konoha. So why did they come back after almost 4 years?", added Ino.

"Someone found out about the kids, right?", Shikamaru questioned his theory. "That's why they returned. She knew that hiding them in plain sight than away from everyone would be better as they would have protection by all the ninja in the village."

"Right as always, Shikamaru", Tsunade answered. "A couple of weeks before they returned, they were attacked by the Akatsuki members. Luckily, with the help of Itachi, the three of them fought the other three and defeated them. Then, Itachi erased their memories. He also informed Naruto and Jiraya about their re-start of the hunt and the plans that he knew of. Therefore, Naruto made the choice to come back. She didn't want to be alone with just Jiraya to help her if they attacked again. Plus, Hidan, Kakuzu and Kisame had seen the kids. So, if they somehow broke the Genjutsu and the seal, they would have Naruto's weakness in their hands. Once they came back, we had to again place in layers of protection for the kids and keep them out of everyone's sight."

"I-I don't get w-why Naruto-chan told us o-once she came b-back if that was the c-case", stated Hinata.

"It's simple really. How, you ask? She wanted to see if she could trust us with the information and her life. She wanted to know if we were actually her friends or if we were simply acting so. But she didn't want to disclose anything that might cause too many risks but she wanted to tell us something that was still hidden from most and not common knowledge." Shino answered.

"Hm." Agreed Tsunade along with many others.

Even with so many questions answered, more questions remained in their minds. They wanted to learn more about their dear friend and what she had to go through. One of the other things they realised was they didn't know how Neji knew everything and didn't tell them. It was easy to answer the latter as they knew that such information in their hands might have caused negative consequences until the whole war was over. They didn't blame Neji for not telling them since the lesser number of people knew, the lower were the chances of the enemy finding out. Especially since that was how Pein had tried to find Naruto as soon as he entered the village.

Then, Tenten to ask the question herself, "How did Neji-kun get involved in this?".

Hmmm... Kaede is the Japanese word for a Maple tree. I wanted to stick to nature. (Anyone getting Hunger Games vibe with these names?)

How much do you think Neji knows about the truth? What all is he involved in? And what happens next?

Opinions of this chapter? Do let me know in the comments or PM me!

would love it if you all could read and review!

Bye bye... Until next chapter.