Author's Note: Yaaaay, reviews… you know, when I got to chapter 16 on the fanfic before this, I had half as many reviews. I guess that shows my growth as a writer, ne? Anyway, to Fionn the Otaku, I believe is your name: You make an excellent point, but if you look in the chapter, I explain that away. Plot devices are fun!

Disclaimer: No ownage of Naruto by me

Chapter Seventeen: Arc Epilogue: Between Storms

At that moment, Naruto stepped through the threshold, arm around an ecstatic Hinata who was practically hanging off of him. Smiling at the open-mouthed, wide-eyed, pale faces, he said, "What? You think a measly little thing like death could stop me?"

The faces around him were nearly all unmoving; Ino was rubbing her eyes in disbelief and Choji, still staring at Naruto, had begun shoving food in his mouth at an alarming rate. Lee's face had a look of utter thrill.

"Uh… guys?" Naruto shifted his eyes back and forth slowly. "I'm… I'm not a ghost," he said nervously. "If I were a ghost, could I do…" he dipped Hinata downward and kissed her passionately, "That?"

"Well, you have to understand," said Jiraiya, stepping through the door behind Naruto, "It's not every day that they see a dead man walking around."

Someone else confirming Naruto's existence seemed to snap the rest, or at least Sakura, out of their daze, as she grabbed Naruto and Hinata and rapidly dragged them toward the table. "Here," she said, sitting Hinata down in her reserved seat, "And… here we go," she pulled a seat from another table and gestured for Naruto to sit in it. Pointing a finger a hair's width from Naruto's nose, she said, "Now. Spill."

"What?"

"Don't give me 'what?'! You know damned well what! How are you… here?"

Naruto scratched his forehead and said, "I'm… not exactly sure. But I'll give you what I can remember. I remember fighting the Akatsuki leader… and I knew Hinata-chan was safe. I kind of saw pure darkness, and then…"

Pain. Cold. Fear. Sorrow. Silence "Where am I?" he said, "What am I, and how can I be speaking?" As far as he could tell, he had no body. His voice made no sound, but merely subsisted in nothingness. "And more importantly… why am I?" The nothingness did not answer. All he felt were the painful emotions… but what was he to feel them?

It seemed like an eternity (odd, in a place where time held no meaning) later that he heard the name. "Naruto-kun…" it appeared from everywhere and nowhere at once, yet as though it were from thousands of miles away.

Naruto-kun? Who was that? Was he, this shapeless entity, this "Naruto-kun"? And why had the voice been able to sunder the nothingness, to make something exist? The nothingness evaporated, only to be replaced by utter darkness… and yet the darkness was so welcome, such a beautiful oasis from the terrible nothingness.

Then it came again. "Naruto-kun…" Impossibly far, but somehow closer than before.

Where was it coming from? Why was this sound so important? Why was it so… beautiful? Again, the surroundings changed. Where the sorrow, fear, and silence had been, hope now existed. The pain was there, doubly so, but his newfound hope provided more than enough armor against it.

"Naruto-kun…"

There! He was sure to lock onto it now. He had a direction; he just needed to pinpoint it.

"I love you."

Light erupted in the darkness, flowing from everywhere until the entire universe seemed to be pure, golden light. And then a miraculous thing happened.

He had a heartbeat. "Am I… alive?" he asked himself.

"No," came a thunderous boom from all around. "But you can be."

"How?" he asked, but no answer came. Instead, he kept listening to his heartbeat, as though if he did not keep track of a single thump, he would lose his heart forever. His ears – he had ears! - pricked up as several mutterings could be heard. He reached for them, longed for them, but they seemed just out of his range.

"You can be alive," came the incredible, rumbling voice.

He contemplated asking how once more, but figured it would be no use. After all, he already knew the answer.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto." He began speeding toward the direction of the sound, accelerating at an astounding rate.

"Yes?" said the voice, "Go on."

"I am Uzumaki Naruto," he said, approaching warmth that was so comforting, his pain dissolved. "And I want to live."

"Good." As soon as the voice said this, the pain returned with a vengeance. It was pain so terrible, so utterly mind shattering that it threatened to crush him, burst him, and break him all at once. "Fear not," said the voice, which grew more and more familiar, "The pain you feel… is just the agony of birth."

Naruto finished his story to a silent and wide-eyed crowd. "You… knew what it was like to be dead?" whispered Sasuke, as though speaking too loudly might shatter the entire story.

"I don't think so," said Naruto. "I think I was… in between worlds."

"Woah," said Shikamaru. "That's pretty deep stuff, Naruto. Did you wake up after that?"

"Uh," said Naruto, rubbing the back of his head, "Maybe Hinata-chan better tell this part."

She nodded and began her tale.

She'd just woken up from her nap and was at once frightened and relieved to hear the continuous beeping of Naruto's heart rate. It meant she hadn't been unconscious while he… left, but it also meant he was very, very close.

And then she heard it. The beeping stopped and became a drawn out whistle. Sight blurring, Hinata turned over the side of her bed and threw up uncontrollably as tears burst forth from her eyes. She activated her Byakugan so that while she was in this state, she would still be able to gaze at her beloved's body for just a moment longer. But when she focused on the device that held Naruto's finger, she noticed something very odd.

Naruto was not attached to the heart rate monitor. The Byakugan deactivated out of pure shock, forcing her to turn around as she wiped her mouth. Her face, already naturally very pale, drained entirely of color.

Her love was sitting upright in his hospital bed, smiling at her. From the look on her face, he thought she might faint. Instead, however, she opened her mouth very wide. At first, she made no sound. But after a moment, she began shrieking at the highest possible pitch she could muster.

"Hi-Hinata-chan, are you-" he began, but was cut off by Hinata's scream dying down.

"Oh my God," she said, frantically grasping at her hair, "This is it. I've snapped! I've gone crazy!" She looked at Naruto, screamed again, and then pointed a finger at him. "You… you, you're not real! You can't be real. Oh God, I'm talking to my own hallucination!"

Naruto stood up. "Hinata-chan, I'm not-"

"Don't say it! You're my hallucination and I'll be damned if I let you talk! Oh God, Oh God, Oh God…" She began to pace wildly around the room.

Naruto did not protest, as he didn't want to upset her even more. He was highly confused as to why she was acting so dramatically different (and, as she herself said, crazier) than she usually did.

"Hinata!" called Shizune, running into the room. "I heard you scream, and – Oh my God." Shizune blanched and Naruto thought she too was going to start screaming and babbling about being insane. Instead, however, she fainted.

As he watched Hinata, Naruto could swear he could hear the gears turning in her head. "Wait… she could see you too. That means…" she gasped, covering her mouth with both hands.

"You see?" said Naruto. "That's what I've been trying to tell-"

Before he could react, Hinata had wrapped her arms around his midriff and buried her face in his chest. "Never leave me like that again," she sobbed, her tears staining Naruto's shirt. "Ever."

The warm droplets felt like a confirmation that he was alive. "No," he replied, stroking her silken mane. "Never."

Ino's eyes were brimming with tears at the sheer romanticism of the story. "That's… so beautiful."

"But we're still missing something," said Neji.

"Indeed," said Shino, "We still don't know how you came out of that coma even after life support had been taken off."

"I believe I can explain that," Tsunade said, helping a still pale and slightly woozy Shizune through the door. "Sorry we're later, she had a bit of a-"

"We know," said Sakura.

"Ah. Well, anyway, I should have figured out why Naruto wasn't coming out of his coma." She eased Shizune, who was mumbling something about ghosts, into a chair and said, "The Kyuubi was brought out during Naruto's battle with the Akatsuki Leader. Unlike when the Kazekage would bring out the Ichibi, the Kyuubi physically maimed Naruto's body. Because of that, it was unable to heal him after the fight and he remained in a coma."

"And because of this, we had to keep him on life support so that his other wounds could heal. But the Kyuubi chakra finished healing him about three weeks into his coma. However, because the life support was on, his body refused to recognize his coma as something wrong with it. After all, there was no real damage to Naruto's flesh. Therefore, after the life support had been taken off, the chakra emerged to heal, realizing the problem." She turned to Naruto. "I'm sorry, Naruto. We've never had to treat a Jinchuuriki, so we couldn't know how that would work for you."

"Don't sweat it," he replied, squeezing Hinata a little more tightly against himself. "What matter's is that I'm here, right?"

Tsunade smiled, picking up a glass. "Hear, hear!" she exclaimed, prompting everyone to follow suit.

For hours after that, everyone wanted to make contact with Naruto; hugs, handshakes, even high-fives. All needed to verify his return for themselves. Once the fuss died down a tiny bit, Kakashi said, "Now, Naruto. Let's discuss what happened before the coma… the 'Final Rasengan,' as you so cleverly named it."

"What was that move, anyway?" asked Kiba, "It didn't seem like any Rasengan I'd ever seen."

"And how many times have you seen a Rasengan?" said Ino, laughing.

"Shut up!"

"A-a-nyway," said Sasuke, trying to bring the focus back. "How did you use all five elements on one hand?"

"Honestly, I don't know," said Naruto. "I remember the Akatsuki leader hitting me… then everything went black. I heard Hinata-chan's voice, and I was up. I had more chakra, more energy than ever before, and somehow, I knew I could create that Rasengan."

Kakashi chuckled. "Unpredictable indeed," he said under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"I think I may know how it happened," said Jiraiya, hefting a large scroll onto the table. "This is the secret scroll of the Uzumaki clan. There are a series of defenses that allow only one of Uzumaki blood to read it. Naruto, you know what to do."

Biting into his thumb, he opened the scroll and spread the blood across it. It felt like wind had passed over him and suddenly, he knew what the scroll said. "When light meets a prism, it splits to form colors. Let he who dies face the sun, reverse the break, and forge light anew."

Silence.

Naruto's eyes widened. Facing his beloved, he whispered, "Hinata (facing the sun)…"

As the two gazed at each other lovingly, Kakashi continued. "This must mean that when an Uzumaki with this kekkei genkai is beaten to less than an inch of his life, they unlock this ability. Normally, the user would almost always die, as it is a similar effect to opening all eight inner gates. But Naruto, you have the Kyuubi, so that allowed you to circumvent that… side effect."

"Chakra is fashioned into the different elements for the various techniques out there," said Shikamaru, "So I guess what this does, as the scroll says, is break the chakra into the five elements, and then put it back together to form... light, I suppose. That allows Naruto to wield all five elements at once."

Naruto wasn't paying attention. Instead, he had taken Hinata's hand in his and was whispering, "Now, I kinda started getting dizzy after I killed the Akatsuki Leader… but I think I asked you a certain question." He peered at he ring for a moment. "I'm only guessing, but I take it from this you said 'yes'?" She nodded. "Well hell," he said, smiling wider than she'd seen throughout the evening, "That's the best thing that's happened all day, and I just came out of a coma."

He stood up. "Everyone," he said, interrupting the conversations around him, "I'd like to formally announce that Hinata-chan and I…" Grinning, he paused for dramatic effect. "… Are engaged!"

A wave of applause and cheers came as the reply. More and more, toasts were made and the level of excitement skyrocketed as one after another the rest of the group congratulated the two betrothed. The kunoichi kept taking turns admiring the incredible ring and wondering where Naruto of all people had gotten the money to buy it. Lee and Guy babbled incessantly about the springtime of youth, much to the chagrin of Neji. Eventually, once the party died down, people started going home.

"Sakura," said Sasuke, "I'll meet you home." Turning to the engaged couple, he said, "Congratulations again, you two. And Naruto… it's good to have you back." He walked out of the restaurant and thought to himself, "It's a huge relief, but… what if it happens again? I'm not strong enough."

Without realizing it, he passed Kakashi, who said, "Hey. I know that look."

"What look?"

"You had that look when you were twelve years old. It means you want more strength." Sasuke remained silent. "But it's okay this time because now, you don't want it for revenge. You want it to protect people, right? Well, I'm willing to help."

Sasuke scoffed cynically. "Oh yeah? How? It's not like you were much help a month ago either, you know."

"I know," replied Kakashi. "But I can still show you a thing or two…"

----------------

After arriving via Gama-kun, Naruto and Hinata had entered Naruto's bedroom. "Ahh… I haven't slept on this bed in a month!" Lying on the bed with her, he said, "Muuuch better than a hospital bed."

"It's good to be home, isn't it, Naruto-kun?" she said, snuggling up next to him.

"Yeah. And you know what?"

"What?"

"I'm not dead." He grinned, giggling at first, and then escalating to full blown laughter. "I'm not dead! I'm alive! I'm here with you and I'm not going anywhere!"

She began giggling too. "Naruto-kun, trust me, there's no one happier about it than I."

"Oh hell. I forgot to say something."

"Hm?"

Moving too quickly to be seen, he'd planted a firm kiss on her unsuspecting lips. When they parted, he moved his mouth towards her ear, whispered, "I love you," and wrapped his strong arms around her in a tight embrace. After a second, he felt hot tears fall onto his back. "What's wrong?" he asked softly, breathing the question more than saying it.

"I'm just…" she gulped, "I just love you more than anything in the world and… nothing has made me happier than knowing you're okay. I don't just love you, Naruto-kun. I need you."

"You have me," he said, strengthening his hold ever so slightly. "Whenever you need me, I will be here."

-------------------

"Naruto's quite a guy, isn't he, Tsunade?"

"Yes he is."

"Lucky he has the Kyuubi."

"The Kyuubi is only part of it, Jiraiya. Even with the Kyuubi, it was still unlikely that he would ever come out of that coma. The deciding factor was his will to live and most of that was probably his desire to see Hinata."

Jiraiya nodded. "Are you going to tell him?"

"That he's my successor? Not yet, certainly not until after the war."

"That could take years."

"I know. But I have more experience, both as Hokage and as an officer in war. It would be irresponsible to give up my position."

"That's true. Still, I won the bet."

"What bet?"

"Don't tell me you don't remember. A long time ago, you, Orochimaru and I made a bet that whoever's students were more successful would win. We all had different terms, but I think you remember mine."

"Yes, but that was such a long ti-"

"You have a chief of medicine in waiting and the Hokage's attendant. Orochimaru, not that it matters much, has a military police commander and a tokubetsu jounin. I, on the other hand, have not one, but two Hokage as my students. I think it's obvious who the winner is. Now pay up, legendary sucker."

She sighed. "Okay. One date. No groping, poking, patting peeping, or any other such activities, understood?"

Jiraiya smiled. "Come on, Tsunade. Don't you know me?"

"Unfortunately."

"Touché. But we can still drink ourselves silly, right?"

"Of course."

"Then it's a date! What can possibly go wrong?"

"Oh so very many things," she muttered.

"Did you say something?"

"No. Now get lost, I have paperwork to do."

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In the dead of night, Naruto was still up, holding Hinata to himself. "Wow," he said into the darkness.

"Naruto-kun? What is it?"

"Nothing, it's just… when you've been dead, you tend to re-realize how wonderful things are… and Hinata-chan, you're the most wonderful thing in my life."

"Oh, Naruto-kun," she said, kissing his cheek. "When your fiancé is in a coma, you tend to re-realize how amazing he truly is." Covering herself with a blanket, she said, "Let's go to sleep Naruto… we both haven't had a relaxing sleep in a month."

"Agreed. At least tomorrow won't be nearly as stressful."

Little did Naruto know, tomorrow would be just the opposite.

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Dun-dun-DUUUUNNNN.

Yeah, pretty bad chapter here. But it's an epilogue for this arc. I tried to do the Naruto's death sequence as sort of a variation on Gaara's death when the Shukaku was being taken out of him.

Note: Hinata in Japanese can be read as "facing the sun." I thought it was a nice touch… yeah? No? Okay.

Anyway, as always, review, and you'll get chapters faster! Yay!