I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters from the Manga or Anime.
A Price for Peace
Chapter 33 Worlds Apart
A large crater scarred the landscape, it looked as though it had been the sight of a meteorite striking the earth. This crater was in the middle of a large forest that spread on for as far as the eye could see in every direction so that it appeared to go on forever there stood a large village, a village that bustled with activity despite how isolated it was.
In addition to the rather unique choice of location of this village, there was one more aspect that sent this village apart. At the northern most border of the large crater there was a carving of the faces of six guardians that had watched over the village since it had been founded, the great Hokage's of the leaf.
The latest of these six figures now sat in his office overlooking the village he had sworn an oath to protect with his life, all in all the life of being Hokage was... boring. More often than not the still young Hokage would not have much to do other than read mission reports for higher ranking missions and sign off on various requests that required the Hokage's approval.
Oh how he longed for the days where he would be on missions, or training with Naruto, hell he even missed the rather disturbing prospect of being challenged by the man who had dubbed him his 'Eternal Rival', Maito Gai.
Kakashi let out a light sigh of relief as he discarded the last in a small stack of papers, he was just about to stand up and go for a walk when the door opened revealing a young woman in her late twenties, she had short dark brown hair and black eyes, that offset the kind features of her face. She wore a light lavender battle kimino but had no forehead protector in place that made her seem more like a civilian.
Despite the woman's kind disposition, Kakashi flinched. In her arms there was a fresh stack of papers in her arm where there would usually be a small tea cup pig. A pig that he saw was following the young woman slowly into the room. 'Why does she keep dressing the poor thing like that,' Kakashi thought as he looked at the pigs odd attire of a red vest and a perl necklace that was more expensive than even some of his more well to do shinobi could afford. "Shizune, I was just about to step out..."
"Oh good that means you're finished with the last stack of paperwork. I have some more requests for you to fill out, there are quite a few people who want visa's into the village for the one year anniversary to celebrate the end of the war," the woman said kindly. "Then there is... this," she added holding up a separate folder.
"What's that?" Kakashi asked, he was intrigued at what could aggravate the kind hearted medic in such a way.
"I can't really explain it, you have to see it for yourself," Shizune replied bitterly.
"I seem to be getting the feeling that I am going to have to put off taking a break," The Hokage replied with a weak eye smile.
"Got it in one, oh and don't let me catch you using shadow clones to do your work again, they do sloppy work," the Jounin medic lectured.
"Sloppy... they're worse than that, I can't even stop them from committing suicide after more than five minutes of this," Kakashi sighed in defeat. "Why do they have to have their own personalities? Did Nidame-sama invent them this way just so they could be tempting enough to use, but be self aware enough to know how to get out of doing any real work? Oh how I wish I could just create a small army of them like Naruto... I would have the work done in an instant," he added questioningly.
"I couldn't say, but you hired me on as your assistant to make sure you do your job properly, so as long as that happens I'm happy," Shizune replied placing the stack of papers on his desk before leaving.
Kakashi groaned as he sat back down, staring at the top file in the stack, the very same file that had seemed to upset Shizune. Kakashi considered himself a fairly laid pack person, he rarely let anything get to him, but this... 'How could anyone think this request would be granted.'
All wars had winners and losers, that much is to be expected. The fourth shinobi world war was no different in that regard, the problem was however that with everyone from the Akatsuki being dead, and the Juubi once more sealed away, there was nobody left for those in the joint shinobi alliance to blame. Unfortunately there was still a lot of anger resulting from the tens of thousands of shinobi killed during the war.
In Konoha this misplaced anger seemed to fall on the shoulders of one unfortunate kunoichi, Anko Mitarashi. The Tokubetsu Jounin was no stranger to the fickle nature of the village population, she had been mistrusted since she was a Genin due to her status as Orochimaru's apprentice. But since the war this mistrust had escalated many shinobi were highly suspicious of her disappearance at the start of the war.
She had been in charge of a team that had been sent to track down and capture Kabuto, a mission that failed spectacularly. She was captured and her team killed, not reappearing until a few days after the end of the war. Kakashi remembered it well, she had stumbled into a recon team, half dead and malnourished where she was taken into custody.
Despite clearing her of any wrong doing once the war was over, rumours spread that she had been working with the Akatsuki, or to be more precise Kabuto. By that time there was nothing that Kakashi nor any other shinobi could do to stifle the rumours, and as far as most of the village was concerned Anko was a potential traitor.
It was for this reason Kakashi was more than angry about what he was reading. It had been a year since the war and they were getting ready for a large festival to both celebrate the victory, and mourn those that had died during the war. However, it appeared that a large portion of the village had decided that Anko would not be welcome at such an event, and demanded that she be banned from the village for the duration of the festivities.
There was no way he was going to accept such an outlandish request. 'Knowing Anko she wouldn't want to go to this anyway, but still to ask me to ban her from the village, I would be within my rights to send everyone that signed this request straight to Ibiki and Anko in the T and I department,' the silver haired Hokage thought. In fact the only thing that indeed prevented him from doing so was that with the sheer number of people that had signed the petition it would drastically reduce the productivity of the department for months.
"Neko, I want you to bring Anko here, she deserves to see this." Kakashi said apparently to no one.
A cat masked Anbu appeared from the shadows around a couch, she had long purple hair and wore the standard black ops outfit. Kneeling in a deep bow she to show her respect. "At once Kakashi-sama," she said, in a perfect business like manner before disappearing in a leaf shunshin.
Kakashi looked at the rest of the stack of paperworks now feeling less motivated than every. "Oh it would be so easy to just watch them burn away." Despite his reluctance and anger, the Hokage forced himself to get to work. When the door opened a few minutes later, Kakashi was surprised to see that it wasn't Anko but his old pupil. "Sakura-chan, it's been awhile would you like a mission?"
"Uh not really, I've been busy at the hospital so I don't really need the money," the kunoichi replied. "I was actually hoping we could talk about something."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Sure thing I have a few minutes, I am expecting someone but until they arrive I'm free to talk."
"I was wondering... have you heard anything from Tsunade-sama, I've tried asking Katsuyu but the slugs aren't telling me anything," Sakura said. She was genuinely worried about the lack of a known whereabouts of the former village leader.
"I wouldn't worry too much about Tsunade-sama, Sakura-chan. But to tell the truth I have no idea where she is right now, the last time I received a message from her she was in a village to the north of Iwa, but that was over a month ago," Kakashi answered honestly.
Sakura didn't look all that comforted by her former sensei's response. "It's just she has been gone for so long, and without Naruto-kun around anymore... I don't know, it just seems like the village is not the same anymore."
Kakashi sighed, he understood how she felt having reacted in a very similar way after the loss of Obito and Rin. "I miss him too Sakura-chan, but life goes on, you can't let yourself live in the past."
"I just still don't get it, it's been a year now and I still can't understand why things ended the way they did. I mean they defeated that... that thing, together. Then they just turned on each other instantly," Sakura replied.
"I can't answer that, only Sasuke and maybe Naruto could. There is no way that I could tell you why Sasuke tried to kill Naruto once they had resealed the Juubi," The Hokage said calmly.
"It's just hard to believe they're both gone," the pinkette said, a few tears bordering the edges of her eyes. The anniversary of their pairs death was bringing up some unwelcome emotions from the young medic.
'If only you knew the truth, I bet you would be out there following after Tsunade-sama,' Kakashi thought, feeling sympathy for the kunoichi. "It's alright Sakura-chan, would you like some time off work until you're feeling better?"
Sakura shook her head, she had no desire to take time off from the hospital, she enjoyed the life as a medical kunoichi far too much. "No thank you, I just wanted someone to talk too," she answered with a weak smile.
Kakashi paused in thought for a moment. "Maybe you need a new team, it's unlikely that you and Sai will be given a new member in team seven, besides Tenz- I mean Yamato has returned to Anbu."
"Uh well I guess it wouldn't be so bad, but I'm happy just filling in with other teams that need a field medic on missions," Sakura answered.
Kakashi sat in reflection, 'I wonder if-' his thoughts were interrupted as the door opened and in walked a kunoichi in her mid twenties, she had her dark purple hair pulled up into a high ponytail that fanned out at the back. She wore a long tan trench coat, and not much else, her top consisting of nothing but mesh body armour, she also wore a burnt orange mini skirt and a black belt, on her feet she wore black combat sandals and metal shin guards.
"Yo Kakashi-sama what did you want me for?" She asked, her arms folded behind her head as she lazily entered the room. "Oh you're busy with pinky, should I come back?"
"No Anko it's fine." Kakashi replied with an eye smile, the kunoichi reminded the Hokage of a certain other brash and sometimes disrespectful shinobi.
What did surprise Kakashi, and not in a good way, was the less than friendly expression on his students face. 'Not you too Sakura-chan... I had thought that you may have made a good partner for Anko, but it looks like I'm going to have to think of someone else.'
"I should go Kakashi-sensei. Mitarashi-san, I do hope we don't see anymore of your handiwork in the hospital." Sakura said sounding distinctly cold towards the relatively care free Anko.
"What can I say, people need to respect a kunoichi's personal space, besides I didn't do anything permanent, have I pinky?" Anko replied her smiling features faltering slightly.
The pink haired kunoichi scowled in response. "Not due to a lack of trying I am sure. I bet you would make more friends if you didn't threaten half the village."
"I'm not going to try and play nice with people who have already judged me, I'm not like the Gaki," Anko scoffed.
"Gaki?"
"You know, our precious little foxy hero, went and got himself killed fighting that traitorous Uchiha without back up," Anko said, her smirk returning knowing that she had hit a nerve.
"Why you-"
"Sakura enough!" Kakashi said firmly, seeing the situation begin to dissolve. "I will not have you fighting in my office. Now I need to speak to Anko, so I'm sorry but you need to leave."
Sakura was red faced in anger but took a deep breath to calm herself. "Right sorry sensei, I'll be going now," she said. With one last angry glare at the purple haired infiltration specialist she left the office.
"Did you need to rile her up like that?" Kakashi asked once his student was gone.
"Oh sorry Kakashi-sama, I guess I couldn't help having some fun with her," Anko replied. Despite her tomboyish overly familiar attitude she always had great respect for the title of Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi the Sandaime Hokage had been a great support for her after she had been used and discarded by Orochimaru.
"By bringing up our dead team mates?" Kakashi replied trying to impress on the snake mistress of the gravity of what she had said.
Anko's head fell in shame as she remembered just who Naruto and Sasuke's sensei had been. "I'm sorry Kakashi-sama I didn't mean to-"
"Yes you did." Kakashi cut her off sternly. "But I understand, things haven't been going great for you lately, I am willing to overlook this."
Anko seemed to find her feet incredibly interesting, finding it hard to look at the silver haired Hokage. "Thank you Kakashi-sama, but I am sorry I took things too far."
"Mah, It's alright. Now we should get down to business... Here look at this," the Hokage said tossing her the offending folder.
Anko looked puzzled but read over the folder, her features becoming more and more sour the further she progressed. "Why are you showing me this? I don't need to be told how much I am disliked, I put up with it after Orochimaru left, and I can put up with it now!"
"I'm not trying to upset you Anko, but you needed to see this. I refuse to accept their request of course, but I wanted to know if you wanted me to do anything about this? I'm in half a mind to fine them all for wasting my time and discrimination against a Konoha shinobi," Kakashi said calmly.
Anko thought about it for a moment. "Give me a mission."
"A mission? That's not exactly what I expected," Kakashi droned in mild interest.
"You know me, Kakashi-sama I don't try to impress anyone, if these fools don't want me here, then send me out of the village, I don't care what the mission is," the kunoichi said.
"Well I could put you on one of the border patrol teams... buuuut," Kakashi replied.
"But it's likely that none of them will want to work with a 'traitor'," Anko added finishing the Hokages unfinished sentence. "In the village it's fine because Ibiki is too smart to listen to those ignorant assholes that spread their fucking rumours about me."
"Well I more or less agree with you, the only real option I can think of is to give you a three month training mission," Kakashi replied.
"Sounds good to me, when do I leave," Anko replied eagerly.
"Well it's not so straight forward, training missions require at the very least a two man cell," Kakashi replied.
Anko was not perturbed by this "Great, I'll go get Nai-chan."
Kakashi sighed and shook his head, "You know as well as I do, that I can't assign a mission to Kurenai. She has a young child and can't leave the village."
"Well then who, apart from Nai-chan Ibiki and yourself pretty much everyone in the village hates me right now," Anko scoffed a little angry.
'She's right, I had thought of Sakura-chan, but after seeing how they reacted, I don't think that's a good idea anymore, the question is who could I trust with this mission,' Kakashi thought taking a minute to come up with a good alternative. "There is actually a kunoichi who I think would be well suited to go with you, I can assure you she won't have a problem with you."
Anko seemed kind of intrigued. "So who we talking about? You gonna give me one of your precious Anbu if so I wan't Neko, I could use some Kenjutsu training."
"Sorry Anko but Neko has to stay here, it's too hard to replace a bodyguard that trustworthy. Actually I had thought of Hinata Hyuuga," The scarecrow replied.
"You mean the Hyuuga heiress that had a problem with stalking your blond gaki," Anko laughed almost disbelievingly.
Kakashi couldn't help but laugh at the rather blunt assessment of the blue haired Hyuuga. "Yes she has completed more missions than any other Chunin since the war, and only ever stays in the village long enough for the minimum required rest days. But she is still a very kind young woman and would never take unfounded rumours seriously. She could learn a lot from you I think."
"When do we leave?" the kunoichi asked.
"You go get Hinata and I'll fill out the mission request form myself, then you can go" Kakashi informed her.
"Alright you got a deal, I'll be back in no time," Anko smirked, without waiting to be dismissed she vanished with a shunshin. 'Now to find me a Hyuuga heiress,' she thought when she reappeared, appearing on top of a large building in the centre of Konoha.
Anko summoned several small snakes and sent them off around the village making sure to stay out of sight while they searched for Hinata. With her summons searching for her target the kunoichi decided to relax and wait for her snakes to do the work.
It was almost half an hour later that a small green snake returned to her. "I found the target Anko-sssama," the snake hissed.
"Where?" she asked.
"In a training ground to the sssouth, she isss alone," the snake reported.
"Alright good job, thanks," Anko replied before the snake puffed out of existence. Not long after that Anko soon found the young kunoichi, Hinata was just leaving a training ground so she decided to follow her. For almost ten minutes Anko watched Hinata from the shadows. 'She's well liked in the village, I guess that's what you get for being a Hyuuga princess.'
Hinata turned down a quiet alley way and stopped. "How long are you going to follow me Mitarashi-san?" she asked.
"Well what do you know, the little princess has some skill," Anko said appearing from the shadows.
"Why are you spying on me, it's quite rude you know. I don't think I have done anything that would upset you or the T and I department," Hinata said calmly.
Anko couldn't help but smirk. "Don't you think it's a little hypocritical to lecture me about spying on someone, you used to have quite an attachment to spying on a blond ball of energy."
Much to Anko's surprise the blue haired Hyuuga had no response, from what Kurenai had told her she thought she could get a reaction out of her. "Are you going to tell me what you want from me Mitarashi-san?"
"I have a mission proposition for you," Anko admitted.
Hinata's eyes widened slightly. "I'm listening."
"Basically it's a training mission, three months outside of the village with us free to go wherever we want," Anko informed the younger kunoichi.
There was a visible jump from Hinata at this news. "We can go anywhere?" she asked.
Anko nodded her response. "Sure, as long as we're back in three months."
"I'm in," the Hyuuga heiress replied eagerly.
"Well I didn't expect you to be this eager, what am I missing here?" the older kunoichi asked.
"There is something I want to check out and I need some free time outside of the village to do it," Hinata answered honestly.
"Well you've done enough to pique my interest meet me at the gate in an hour," Anko replied. She turned to leave walking past Hinata when one last thought crossed her mind. She leaned right into Hinata's ear. "Tell me, did you ever use your Byakugan to spy on what was under that orange jumpsuit of his... it must have been something special to have you chasing after him for so long," she whispered. This time Hinata did have a reaction, lighting up like a christmas tree from head to toe. Anko couldn't help but burst into uncontrolled laughter, "I think I'm gonna like you."
(Elsewhere)
"Wow what the hell happened here?" A large snow leopard the size of a horse asked with a rather feminine voice.
On the leopards back sat Karin who had a bitter scowl as she looked at the wreckage before her. "This is where Naruto-kun has been training. I knew he was taking things a little too far, but this is ridiculous."
"You telling me one person training alone caused this much damage? The ground looks like nothing will ever grow here again," the large cat stammered.
The ground that had once been rich soil with thick trees that towered high into the tallest canopy of the forest, was now nothing but arid earth, compressed and degraded till it was nothing but rock and nutrient free dirt that wouldn't grow anything. "Naruto's been hiding something from me, I thought it may have been hidden out here."
"Unless the thing that blond tom is hiding from you is a rather destructive form of deforestation, then I think you may need to look somewhere else... why not just come straight out and ask him?" the snow leopard asked.
"Well he said that he would tell me when he was ready, but it's just been so... frustrating, he's been so distant that I can't stand it anymore," Karin sighed revealing some of the bitterness she had been feeling. "I don't really feel like training anymore today Kuroneko, let's just head back to the village."
"Actually I'm sorry Karin-chan but I am being told to come home as well, I'm sorry I couldn't help you with your young tom," Kuroneko said calmly. 'Why the hell would they be summoning me home, they know I'm supposed to be training our summoner in our clan jutsu.'
"Oh alright I don't mind, the walk might give me a chance to clear my head," the read head replied calmly while hopping off the leopards back. In an instant the large cat disappeared leaving Karin alone at the edge of Naruto's training ground.
She slowly began walking back towards the small village she now called home, the truth was it had been the first real home she had ever known. She relaxed and decided to indulge in her favourite past time, using her Minds Eye of Kagura to bask in the warm glow of Naruto's chakra, she slightly wondered if it was possible for chakra to be addictive but there was no possible way she could know for sure being the only shinobi who knew this technique.
As she enjoyed the warm feeling and comforting chakra she received a rather unwelcome shock, four more chakra signatures sprung into view. 'Oh no, this isn't good. I have to get home now!' Karin thought taking off at top speed, she didn't pause even for a second as she jumped over the village walls, and straight for her home.
Her target was obvious as she kicked open the door to Naruto's room. "Naruto-kun wake up we have a problem." Naruto groaned and rolled over, it was clear that he did not want to wake up just yet. "Dammit Naruto-kun this is important," Karin said lightly shaking the blonds shoulder.
"Five more minutes," the blond begged in a sleepy drawl finally coming round to reality.
"We don't have five minutes, there are four large chakra signatures that are almost at the village. We might have to defend ourselves," Karin said urgently.
This seemed to be enough motivation for the blond who sat up, his eyes still half lidded from sleep and his hair a complete mess. Karin couldn't help but giggle as he sat there still for a moment as if still asleep. "You're right, one of them has a lot of chakra, but the others are not much higher than an average Genin," He said said, quickly hopping out of bed.
Karin froze when she saw that all he was wearing were a pair of black boxers. She stood there in a daze as if trying to sear the mental image into her mind forever as the blond quickly pulled on some black pants and a dark blue shirt with burnt orange edges at the arms and neck. With one last yawn he pulled his messy hair back in a way that resembled Jiraiya and finally began to take in his surroundings.
He fought the urge to blush when he saw that Karin had been watching him change with an absent look in her eyes, but passed it off "Alright, I'm ready, but we should try and keep a low profile until we find out what these guys want."
Karin didn't respond, she was still far away in fantasy land, where her relationship with the object of her thoughts was, as far as she was concerned, going far better at this point in time. She was rudely brought back to reality when she felt a light touch on her shoulder. "Huh!?" She jumped in surprise but relaxed when she saw it was just Naruto.
Naruto sighed, smiling his fox like grin. "I said we should keep a low profile, until we can find out what these guys want, or until they go away."
"Oh... yeah, good idea. Should we go to the gate?" The red head questioned, truth was she was a little frightened, not that she couldn't defend herself, or that Naruto was unable to do the same. She was scared that their new little home was going to be targeted, the people here were completely innocent and she wouldn't want them to suffer because of them.
Naruto had to think about this. "No I think we can sit back for a bit and wait, who ever is on gate duty this morning will alert the town when they see them coming," he said eventually.
"Alright, I guess if we're trying to keep a low profile we wouldn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves, and it would be suspicious if we knew they were coming before they're even here," Karin replied with a nod.
"Well it's almost lunch, why don't we go grab something to eat and wait see what happens?" Naruto suggested. "Uh I guess that sounds like kind of a stupid plan all things considered," he added, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
Karin grabbed his arm and began leading the blond out of the room. "Actually that sounds nice, it won't take much time, we could both be at the gate in an instant if things go badly"
Naruto smiled, as they walked downstairs, arm in arm heading for their kitchen. "I guess, so what do you want? It's probably too late for me to make a proper breakfast."
"Anything is fine, something quick and simple would be better. That way if the worst happens you don't waste anything we might want later," Karin answered.
"Well that rules out Ramen then," the blond laughed.
"I don't know how you still have any ramen left," The red head giggled knowing that barely a week went by where Naruto hadn't indulged in at least one meal of his beloved noodle broth.
"Let's just say I made sure to buy a lot before we left," Naruto laughed. "We have some cold meat left over from dinner, how about we just reheat that, or maybe a sandwich?"
Karin didn't get a chance to answer him as a loud bell chimed through the village. "Looks like we don't have time after all, they're here."
"Yeah I guess not, still we should stay out of sight for now," the blond declared.
The pair stayed in silence for a minute waiting to see what would happen, when they soon heard the bell ring a second time, indicating that they were opening the gates and allowing the outsiders entrance to the village. "I don't know if we can hide anymore," Karin mused. She was at least relieved that the village hadn't been attacked. " You know I think they might be here in the village to stay for a few days," she guessed feeling far more relaxed by the second.
"Huh why do you say that?" Naruto asked, his eyebrow quirked in interest.
Karin wasted no time in voicing her opinion. "Well a few months ago when we were in that village to the north on a date, there was an officer from the empire there..."
"Oh yeah, they said they would be visiting villages in the area. I didn't expect them to come this far south to be honest. I mean, we must be one of the smallest towns in the district," Naruto replied.
"Well what ever way you look at it, they're here now, and unless you want to to spend the next couple of days hiding out, we should go see what's happening," the red head suggested.
Naruto was a little hesitant, Karin had a point but there was something that just felt a little off to him. "I don't know."
Karin smirked and lightly hit his arm in a playful manner. "I don't believe my eyes, Naruto Uzumaki, the strongest ninja ever to live is afraid."
"Hey, I didn't say I was afraid," Naruto scoffed, he knew Karin was just messing with him, but it didn't stop the blond from feeling slightly embarrassed. "I just think there is something more to this, I can't really explain it though."
"Alright, what do you want to do, what ever you choose i'll go along with," Karin said willing to trust his instincts.
Now Naruto really seemed confused. "Really you'll just follow what ever I think is the best option?"
Karin nodded instantly. "Of course, I trust you with my life, I already told you that I would not leave you."
Naruto couldn't help but feel proud that the kunoichi had such faith in him, and it may have been this new found pride that masked his initial fears. 'I doubt there is anything to fear from these guys, three of them are no stronger than Genin if you look at their chakra signatures.' "Alright, I think I was just being a little paranoid, let's go check these guys out, if we went into hiding it would be hard for Cho and the others to explain why our home is empty."
Naruto was still tired, hell the truth was, that he was exhausted. He was still training every night with both Kurama and Fukusaku, although his progress was rather varied the one thing that stayed the same was his chakra exhaustion that he accumulated on a nightly basis, anyone else would be out for days, but with the fox help and his knowledge of Senjutsu, the blond would recover completely after a decent sleep, a sleep that had been interrupted out of necessity.
The disheveled blond let out a loud yawn as as he exited their home, Karin casting him a partly worried sideways glance. On the streets a few of the older townsfolk were slowly walking past. "Oh Naruto-san, Karin'san I am surprised you are not at the centre of the village already." an older woman in her late sixties said as she spotted the young couple.
"Oh we were just having something to eat first," Naruto lied convincingly.
"Well you better not wait too long, the whole village is gathering, some members of the military are here with an announcement of some sorts." The old woman said with a smile.
Naruto smiled back, the villagers here had been so welcoming and friendly to the two outsiders since they arrived in the village, they really made them feel at home. "Then we should head there right away, right Karin-chan?"
"Right," she agreed readily.
End Chapter!
So I decided to give a little glimpse into what was happening in Konoha, I figure if I use them later, I will at least have some decent background to go on, rather than just saying in one go how everything had changed, I also gave a few hints towards something that had people had been asking about for a few weeks.
Maybe I made the chapter a little Anko centric but meh, she's one of my favourite characters, probably favourite female character in the cannon, most of them are so one dimensional and only Tsunade and Anko have broken that mould in my opinion.
I plan on doing a few of these sorts of chapters in the the future, spaced out of course, just to show how those characters change over the time that Naruto is away. As to how in depth I go into about events that happen on the Elemental Nations side of things, well I will probably look at them after the fact, rather than use them as sub plots I may just mention them in passing, unless I get enough encouragement to go deeper into some of the potential plots that I set up like Anko and Hinata from this chapter.
Spoiler Alert!
So Naruto obviously isn't dead, but the question is what did Kaguya actually kill? It's possible that it was Sakura in disguise, she can survive being killed due to Tsunade's recovery jutsu. If that was the real body of Naruto then they are overusing him dying and he may as well be bald and called Krillin, actually no when Krillin died Goku always got pissed and something finally happened.
But like I said Sakura using a jutsu to disguise herself, would be my first guess we only saw Obito and Kakashi appear after hiding in his jutsu vortex and it looked like Sakura was already there. Other options would be Naruto giving extra chakra and maybe the consciousness of one of the Bijuu to a clone. Otherwise we have yet another plot hole, then again from what I have seen Kaguya is just giving Kishimoto license to write plot holes left and right.
I find it rather hard to believe that he had planned this for any decent period of time. The first time we even hear about her was only a few months ago and now she's the main antagonist of the series, at least Madara had been around since part one and while I am glad the Uchiha fan boyism that had been happening for about 300 chapters may have ended but I would have at least liked to see Sasuke and Naruto force him into a corner before he was killed, they were getting their ass kicked by Madara, then he dies and they face someone stronger, no real development leading to that point.
I just hope we start to see some resolution soon, we don't need any more stupid plot extensions unless they happen after Kaguya is good and sealed away.