I Don't Own Naruto, Any Other Anime/Manga or Its Characters.

All Characters Appearing In This Work Are Fictitious. Any Resemblance To Real Persons, Living Or Dead Is Purely Coincidental.

Honouring the Dead

It was a rainy day in Konoha. It had been 3 days since the Traitors had been executed and things were finally starting to get to normal. As always happened with a Military burying the dead had taken a back seat to getting things in order.

But now that the guilty had been punished and the Village was back in semi working order it was time for burying their dead and giving them the recognition they deserved. As the Hokage it was up to Tsunade to speak for the dead. For it was in her name that they had fought and laid down their lives. Tsunade looked down from the Podium which had temporarily been built for the funeral.

As she looked down at the crowd she could see that everyone was wearing black and the crowd was field with civilians and shinobi alike. Looking at the crowd she finally spoke and said "The life of a shinobi is not an easy one; it takes the rare person to actually be able to lead the life of a shinobi. For we are simply soldiers in a military having to follow orders and if necessary we also lay down our lives for our country and our comrades."

"Unfortunately we are shinobi and as such are defined as tools of war. But I have great respect for the men and women who have given their lives in this war." "As Hokage it falls upon me to speak for the dead and to honor them, and Honor them I shall for Honour is what my Shinobi live and died for." "Every single Shinobi who has died in this war will be honoured by the Daimyo himself with the Sash of Fire. This is the highest honour that can be given to a Shinobi in service to his country."

"To the families of the dead Shinobi you have my assurance that your loved ones will not be forgotten and By Executive Order I have decreed that the families of my fallen Shinobi will be taken care of financially and receive a pension paid to them by the Government of Konoha for the next five years."

"In addition to this the children of my fallen shinobi will receive free education within Konoha, regardless of whether they are Shinobi or Civilian. This is my promise to you. My Shinobi were the best there were and we have lost many fine Shinobi in this war not including many Anbu Shinobi, Kosuke the Eternal genin, Yugao Uzuki, Ebisu, Yue, Sai and many others."

"Their memories will live on in our hearts forever. However among the many martyrs and heroes I would like to Honour a specific few: Kosuke The eternal Genin was a man who held honour and Loyalty in a High regard. Even though his official rank was that of genin, he was easily skilled enough to become a Jonin - a promotion he declined many times."

"Kosuke was a man who believed firmly in the future. When the battle broke out Kosuke instead of heading towards the Battlefield, headed towards the Shinobi Academy because he knew that it would be a target for enemy Ninja." "His intuition proved him right on this occasion as it did on many other occasions. Upon reaching the academy he was met by 5 squads of enemy ninja, who were trying to attack the academy."

"Kosuke jumped down to protect his village and protect the students from harm, he fought singlehandedly against 5 enemy squads, and was able to decimate 2 enemy squads before being joined by Yugao Uzuki and Ebisu as backup, and together the three shinobi fought to protect teh academy from harm while the students were escorted."

"Though they fought valiantly unfortunately they were outnumbered heavily and sustained massive injuries, in a bid to protect the innocent these three fine shinobi gave their very lives to end the threat and together they were able to defeat the enemy ninja at the cost of their lives."

Tsunade paused for a moment to take a breath then continued; "For their heroic actions their names will be inscribed on the wall of heroes."

"Kosuke was always known as the eternal Genin; now he shall be known as the Eternal Protector and By Executive Order he will be the first Shinobi in History to be promoted from the Rank Of Genin directly To the Rank of Jonin." "Yugao Uzuki will be known as Yugao of the Crescent Blade. Ebisu will henceforth be known as Ebisu the Elite."

"Amongst the many Shinobi who gave their lives for their motherland, there is one more man who gave his life and though he has always preferred to work from the shadows and never wanted credit for his work, all he wanted was the trust and friendship of his comrades. I speak of the man few people know; I speak of a man who was trained by Danzo in the art of war and was an expert in Kenjutsu and infiltration."

"A man who through his actions earned our trust and each step of the way wished for nothing but to see Konohagakure rise to the top. He is a man known by many names, he is known by the children of this village as uncle painter He was known by the Art galleries of Konoha as the Anonymous Painter. His students called him sensei. But his friends call him Sai."

"Sai was a man with many secrets and many burdens. He was a silent warrior. He was a man who always believed in loyalty. It was this very same loyalty that allowed him to turn the tide in this battle.

"For even when injured fatally and dying he used his last breath to unravel the secrets of the enemy and used his own blood as Ink and sacrificed his own life to make sure that the information had gotten into the correct hands.

"There are many times in battle when information carries a higher value than a Shinobi's life. Sai understood this fact very well and it was for this reason that as Go-daime Hokage I honor Sai with the title of Nisei. The second Generation of Sanin. A title shared by his team mates Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno. He will be known now and forever as the Painter of Death."

As Tsunade spoke the rain slowly started to lessen and slowed to a drizzle. Tsunade was finally winding her speech as she said. "Due to events that have taken place in recent history it has been decided by the Government of Konoha that to keep the secrets of our shinobi we will not bury them but instead we will burn their bodies to ashes so that no to prevent their secrets being stolen from their body. "What she had not told them was that she had her team of Anbu medics remove the organs and bone marrow of the dead and then drain them of their blood. Once purified the blood and organs would then be stored in the Anbu medical center for medical emergencies.

After the crowd had been pushed back one by one the coffins were lined up, each coffin bearing the name of a fallen shinobi. Upon being given the signal Anbu shinobi lined up to each coffin and after making the hand signs for Ram → Horse → Snake → Dragon → Rat → Ox → Tiger and said: "Katon: Karyū Endan" ("Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bullets.") A large number of fireballs escaped the mouths of the Anbu shinobi and obeying the will of their respective shinobi. The fireballs fell upon the moist wood, and though it was wet from the rain, it was still no match for the flaming bullets. The crowd silently watched as the coffins were given a Viking funeral and the bodies within them were quickly reduced to ashes. Although each coffin was separated at least 5 feet from the other and a wall of hard earth separated each coffin, both for safety purposes and to allow the loved ones of the fallen shinobi to mourn privately for their fallen loved ones. Sai's and Yue's graves were surrounded by the Konoha 11 and their significant others as well as the 9 Genin whom he taught.

Within the shadows they could sense many former root Anbu members hiding silently and mourning the loss of one of their oldest comrades.

Udon although silent had a constant stream of tears running down his cheeks as he mourned for his dead master. Finally after what seemed like hours but had only been minutes Naruto collected the ashes of his two friends into an urn with Udon's help and handed the urn to Udon for him to say a final goodbye and after biting his thumb to draw blood he summoned Gamakichi who arrived in a poof of smoke.

The young toad was also wearing black on this occasion and he stayed silent as he watched Udon finally say a tearful goodbye to his now deceased master before handing the urn back to Naruto. The blonde haired Jonin had a sad smile on his face as he squeezed his student's shoulder in assurance and then jumped upon Gamakichi's head and vanished in a poof of smoke.

Upon entering the Sacred Toad Valley he then went to a deeply forested area of the Valley where there were many flowers and a river bend. He then dug a small hole and finally put his friends' ashes to rest, deep in the valleys of Mount Myōbokuzan, where the two lovers would now rest in peace for eternity.

A/N: I'm sorry Guys for the long wait. As I get closer to the end I am finding it more difficult to write the chapters. Not to mention My Naruto muse kept on doing a Henge jutsu and transforming into a Harry Potter muse.

I would like to thank everyone who has stuck with me for so long I promise I will try my best to have the next chapter out before the month of May is out. I also ask all my fans to leave a review and help me reach and pass the 100 Follows and Reviews Marker.

I would also like to say that after this chapter, there are three more chapters to be written so at the end I will be finishing this story on the 50th chapter. I also promise my fans that until this Naruto Fanfic is completed I will not rest. Thanks in Advance and as always Read and Review. Please and thank you.