From the Ashes

by raspbewwies

Canon, Post-war. Drabbles on Konoha's rebirth from the ashes. Multiple characters. Possible warning for spoilers from the manga. #20: "Through it all, hope will follow, in traces and faint whispers. For it is hope that remains as they journey through the infinite, hope that will resurrect. Hope that will birth them from the ashes."

5. 5: Pony

Prompt #5: Pony

One day, Sakura dragged him pony riding.

She literally grabbed the scruff of his neck and dragged him to ride on a pony. He didn't argue. He still wanted to live.

She led him to Training Ground Three, where he first gave Team Seven their bell test. It was dusky and getting darker, and there it was. A pony, tied to one of the trees.

Sakura joined the two darker figures leaning close to another tree. There they were, the three successors to the Sannin, scrawny brats not long ago.

So although he has piles of paperwork to do and his head is screaming, when all three (he has missed on saying that for a long time) of his students get him to ride a pony because he was too darned stressed, he does.

He looks ridiculous, of course. That's alright, though. They are laughing (one is smirking), and in them he can see hope. So he rides the pony, and falls off it, and still sees hope.