Title: Night raid on Konoha

Rating: G

Pairing / Characters: Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, Tsunade, the genin and Shikamaru, Jiraiya, ANBU captain Nakamura, Izumo, Kotetsu, Anko and Genma

Word Count: 961 words

Warnings: Nothing

Summary: Naruto is healed, Kakashi praises him, another day dawns in Konoha

A/N: Er… yay?

The rising sun highlighted the damage done to Konoha and her peoples.

Shikamaru and the genin stood below Hokage Mountain, trying to consider where Naruto would have gone, or would have been.

'All right, this is what we do,' the chuunin said abruptly. We'll split up into two teams, and search either side the streets starting here at the base of the mountain. Once we've covered the main streets, we –'

'Don't any of you move an inch.'

Shikamaru froze at the voice, turning slowly to see Tsunade standing behind him, hands on her hips. She sighed.

'You know, Naruto is usually the one who ignores whatever I say, in fact, I've come to expect it from him – but from the rest of you?'

Tsunade shook her head. 'You can all stop worrying, Kakashi found Naruto a few minutes ago. The medics are attending to him as we speak.'

Sakura let out the breath she hadn't known she was holding. 'Is he ok?'

Tsunade laughed. 'He's seen better days, that's for certain, but he'll be fine.'

'Thank god,' Kiba muttered. 'The idiot, always getting himself into trouble…'

'Kiba-kun!' Hinata protested, and everyone laughed.

Kakashi had his back against the wall, Naruto cradled in his arms as the medics healed the wounds. His hand was gentle as he stroked Naruto's hair away from his face, his eyes on the deep cuts marring Naruto's skin.

'Kakashi-san – we've done what we can for him, what he needs now is rest. He should be fine.'

'Thank you,' Kakashi said absently, his eyes not on the medic as went to attend to several other wounded shinobi, but on his student as he stirred.

'Naruto.'

Naruto blinked up at Kakashi's face. 'Kakashi-sensei…'

A smile, hidden by his mask, graced Kakashi's face. 'You're going to be fine, Naruto. You've fought well.'

Remorse, mingled with shame, crossed Naruto's face. 'I killed people… I can still taste their blood in my mouth… I couldn't control myself…'

Kakashi's eyes were serious.

'Naruto, I want you to remember something. I know how hard you've been training to control yourself when you use the chakra of the nine tails, and I'm proud of how far you've come. I checked the bodies of the people you killed – Naruto, you only killed our enemies. Even in your tailed state, you only killed the ones you were supposed to. That in itself is an achievement you should be proud of.'

Naruto's eyes were wide. 'Really, Kakashi-sensei? I didn't hurt anyone else? I didn't hurt any of my friends?'

Kakashi shook his head. 'You didn't hurt any leaf shinobi or civilian, not a single person.'

Naruto relaxed. 'That's good to hear.'

He bolted upright abruptly, ignoring the agonizing pain in his temples. 'Why are we still sitting here, we should be fighting, we should be –'

Kakashi forced him to lie down again. 'Naruto, calm down. The fighting is over. The sun is rising.'

Naruto lay still. 'I think I'm tired,' he admitted, yawning widely.

Kakashi chuckled softly. 'Go to sleep, brat.'

Naruto looked wounded. 'Why does everyone call me a brat?' he wondered sleepily.

'Because you're our brat,' Kakashi told him, ruffling his hair. 'Sleep, Naruto.'

Naruto closed his eyes, and his breathing soon evened out.

Izumo and Kotetsu stood with Genma and Anko, watching the sun rise over a bruised and broken village.

Anko took a deep breath of the fresh air. 'Mah, we've lived through worse,' she murmured, 'and I dare say we'll manage this.'

Kotetsu smiled faintly. 'Rebuild what's been broken, and move on. That's our way, it always has been.'

Genma leaned against the wall, folding his arms. 'True. Tsunade-sama is still here, and it doesn't seem like we've lost too many people. The ANBU are dispersing of the remaining mist nins as we speak, and we can consider our job done.'

'Just another night in a shinobi village,' Izumo said dryly, stretching.

Tsunade and Jiraiya stood with Shikamaru and the genin atop Hokage Mountain, their eyes on the village below.

'Iruka-sensei was right,' Ino said softly. 'We may have lost some of our villagers, and half the town may lie in ruins, but we're alive. We survived…'

'And we'll continue to survive,' Jiraiya told her. 'As long as Konoha still stands, we'll prevail. They were strong, but we're stronger. Obviously.'

'It still seems so sad,' Neji volunteered. 'I suppose we did the best we could…'

'Tsunade-sama, captain Nakamura reporting in!'

Tsunade turned. 'Report.'

'Hai. We've sent several ANBU teams out, and can find no leaf shinobi among the dead or the wounded. Several of the Kirigakure nins have been taken into custody, and Morino Ibiki is questioning them. So far, their motives remain undiscovered.'

Tsunade frowned. 'Is it possible that their motive was to destroy Konoha?'

'We've considered that,' the ANBU captain admitted, 'but it seems more likely that this was a test of Konoha's strength. At any rate, hunter nins are already disposing of the mist nin's bodies.'

'Good work,' Tsunade said absently. 'You know, if they really wanted to test our military strength, they would have done better to just ask me about it, that way they would still have an army left.'

Jiraiya's laughter, long and loud, raised their spirits and banished the exhaustion they felt after their night's work.

The village hidden in the leaves remained.

Many of its homes and buildings lay in ruins, and many of its protectors were injured, but the numbers were few, and they had seen worse. Konoha's peoples would rebuild, bury their dead, and move on, for it was the way in a shinobi village, and the way of those entrusted with a will of fire.

The sparkling sunlight shone on the stone faces carved into Hokage Mountain.