It was grueling coming back to Konoha's borders, but that did not stop Naruto, Sakumo, and the Sannin from being unmotivated. Protecting Konoha was ingrained in their minds since the Academy days and was always seen as the first priority no matter the state one was in.
"Damn," Naruto cursed as she placed her hand flatly over her eyes, "They're already here. I could sense their huge army from a mile away—literally. They can't be far from us right now."
"Doesn't matter," Tsunade said, "we just need to catch 'em by surprise from behind." She smirked and cracked her knuckles, "For all Ame knows, they're surprising Konoha, and not the other way around."
Jiraiya nodded. "That's right. I've already sent the Hokage news about the sudden upbringings of Ame. And since they don't have Hanzo as commander anymore, the whole army will be blind sighted with grief and fear. Hopefully, Sensei will have some shinobi station for battle by the time we get there."
"I suppose you're right." Naruto looked to Sakumo, "Are you still up for a fight, Sakumo? After all that running we did, I wouldn't expect anything from you."
"I'm good to go." The grey haired shinobi unsheathed his tantō, "Anyways, I should be the one asking you that. You already did so much-"
"Come on," Orochimaru interrupted, "Now's not the time to pester about ones wellbeing. We need to obliterate this army before any harm is done. This army still thinks that Hanzo'll come and command them. Let's use this time wisely."
"Orochimaru's right," Tsunade sighed. "Sakumo and Naruto, you guys go ahead and rile 'em up while Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and I will catch them from behind with the help of our summons."
A slight nod from Sakumo and Naruto were given, and they headed off to face Ame's army head on.
"Guess Jiraiya was right. The Hokage already knew 'bout Ame, huh?" Naruto grinned as she saw shinobi from Konoha fighting their offenders.
"Good thing too. I wouldn't imagine being able to beat them with just our group of five. We're all already injured as it is."
"Yeah. Ame's army is pretty big."
"For sure." He looks at her and sighed, "I guess now we should start our endeavor."
She gave him a cheeky smile, "Agreed. Let's go!"
Cutting through from behind Ame's large army, Naruto and Sakumo parried with countless shinobi, slowly weaving their way throughout the army.
Naruto side swept her elbow into an enemy's skull and heard the small fracture she made. She dropped the enemy unconscious and looked for her next target. "How many you got?" She shouted to Sakumo.
"Didn't keep count, but I estimate twenty-two. You?"
Naruto smirked, "Twenty-three."
Sakumo mirrored her expression and downed another three shinobi in one large trust of his tantō. "Make that twenty-five!"
Suddenly, a barrage of colossus, boulder-crushing noises sounded from behind the battle field. Naruto grinned knowingly to Sakumo, and they ran out from the center field and into a safer zone.
A large toad pounced into the middle of the battle along with an enormous snake and slug. "It really does look picturesque what they're doing out there, huh?" Sakumo shrugged to Naruto.
Knowingly, Naruto nodded. "I totally need a summon." It was true. After going back to the past, Naruto wasn't sure if she was still signed to the toad's—she couldn't risk it anyway as it would arise confusion to Jiraiya. The blond rubbed her hand on the slight crick on her neck, "Well, anyway, maybe we should start to help again. The sannin can't dispose of every single enemy."
"Your right," Sakumo stated as he clenched his tantō in his fist tighter. "Come on, I see a whole lot right over there."
Naruto arched her back in a stretch, "Let's do this. I can't wait to go home."
The battle reached its conclusion close to daybreak, lasting a total of five hours. With inevitable casualties came inevitable injuries from both sides. Konoha came through strongly, as the loss of Hanzo discouraged his army.
No harm came to Konoha in the process, and by achieving victory against Ame created a huge milestone for Konoha's war effort.
Platoon by platoon, Konoha's shinobi came home to share their success and sorrow. The Hokage, who sat in his office looked beyond his full view window at Konoha, which directed to the entrance.
"Sensei?" Jiraiya's voice was rough and fatigued as he informally called for the attention of the Hokage.
Hiruzen turned to face the audience of five and strolled back to his wooden desk. "Welcome back," he greeted while blowing out a puff of smoke from his pipe.
"The mission report will be done by tomorrow, Hokage-sama."
A smile etched on the Hokage's face. Orochimaru was always like this—formal and quite serious in the right setting even to his closest allies. "Of course, Orochimaru. I thought you all would come by later, give in to some rest and relaxation after what just happened. Very diligent," he complimented.
"During our stay in Ame," Orochimaru started, "we found out that Hanzo was planning to destroy Konoha by poisoning the people of Konoha. He stationed his whole army just before the borders of Konoha to avoid our patrols and so that his army could meet them later on with his summon—Ibuse—to lead them."
"That would have been problematic. Then how did you take care of them?"
"Hanzo was disposed of by Naruto, causing devastation to the army. Without Hanzo's poison, his plan was already bound to fail."
At this, Hiruzen widened his eyes considerably. Hanzo, by no means, was weak.
"After that, we were rescued and made it in time to participate in the battle, with Konoha coming in with a victory," the Snake Sannin finished.
"Wonderful! I knew it was good to send you three to Ame. If I hadn't, Hanzo would have destroyed Konoha. All of you are dismissed except for Sakumo and Naruto."
Naruto felt the bottom of her stomach drop. She did not know what would happen. Even with her righteous duty to the war effort, she still disobeyed the command of the Hokage by not staying in Konoha—especially when she was in the position of a teacher and should have been taking care of the children.
When the Sannin left, Naruto and Sakumo kneeled down to their Hokage. "Lift your heads and stand up straight, you two." Hiruzen sighed and gestured them to sit down in the two chairs located in front of his desk. "I express my deep gratitude to you both," he paused and sighed again, "especially to you, Naruto. I know that for the past couple of months you have been aware of the Uchiha police."
Naruto widened her eyes and looked down. She knew she shouldn't have sent those not-so-subtle hints to the Uchiha. All Naruto could make out was a quiet apology. Now, she looked even more suspicious than before to both Sakumo and the Hokage.
"No," Hiruzen waved his hand, "I should be the one apologizing. With these couple of months, I have become suspicious of you, even going as far as making you the scapegoat of this whole Ame fiasco."
"No," Naruto defended, "it's understandable, seeing that I was from Ame, only to pop up in Konoha only six months ago."
"Please accept my apology, Naruto. It will only lift my burden—especially after all you have been through in keeping Konoha safe."
A smile came to light in Naruto's face, "Then I accept your apology, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen returned her kind gesture then faced Sakumo. "Sakumo, I also hold gratitude for you by going with Naruto to find the Sannin. Without your efforts, who would know what the future would be like?"
"Well actually-"
Sakumo was interrupted when Naruto hit him lightly on the thigh. "Of course Hokage-sama," Naruto answered for Sakumo.
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, but thought nothing of it. "Now that that's settled, you two are dismissed. Seeing that this was an unofficial mission, I do not need a report. For now, relax."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," they both responded.
When the two Shinobi came out of the Hokage's office, Sakumo questioned Naruto, "What was that for?"
"That was for saving you from explaining to the Hokage that you stopped your duties to chase after me."
"Well," he replied thoughtfully, "I guess that was no harm in doing that. I really do want to get home."
"Me too. The kids will be frantic if I'm out too long."
A chuckle escaped Sakumo's mouth, "Kakashi too. He's become more skeptic ever since Iwa, better get home to "save" him from his baby sitter."
"Baby sitter? I didn't think that Kakashi would need one, especially since he's such a capable student."
"He is capable—I'm not gonna lie about that." He then scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "It's just that he doesn't think rationally when taking care of himself. I swear I'd leave him by himself, but I kid you not, when he does something as simple as turning on the kitchen stove or washing the dishes, something is bound to break. I can't imagine how many times he-" Sakumo paused, then once again, scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, I'm rambling now."
It was nice to see this side of Sakumo. Even though she knew he had a friendly and approachable personality, Naruto laughed. "It's fine. It's quite nice to hear how much of a different person Kakashi is outside the Academy. I would hate for him to be like he is in the Academy in the future."
"Me too," Sakumo agreed. "I just hope that this won't pose as a bad liability."
"Well, that's what I'm here for—to change it."
Sakumo stared at her. It was good to see that Kakashi's teacher saw from his perspective. Naruto, unlike Kakashi's preceding mentors, did not just praise Kakashi for his performance, but corrected his understanding of what the meaning of what it was to be a Shinobi of The Leaf. "Thank you."
A content smile graced Naruto's lips, "I'm only doing my job."
Three days had passed since Naruto had returned from Ame. Hiruzen had given her a short break—a week—off from teaching from the Academy. Naruto was grateful for the short pardon, leaving her to relax and recover from her recent actions.
From her couch, watching intently to the glowing television, Naruto headed to her small refrigerator and looked for milk. Shaking the carton's contents, a swishing and solid sound resonated inside it. The blond looked at its expiration date and cringed. Almost a month old.
She looked absently at the clock and sighed—7 AM. By then, Naruto couldn't ask any of the orphans to fetch her some milk and other food items from the 24-hour super market because they were still asleep. Naruto then looked outside one of her small windows and sighed once again—it was raining. She heard the downpours and ruled that it was not stopping any later.
The sooner the better, Naruto dictated in her mind and took a small umbrella from it's hook, then opening it with her uninjured arm. The poison had taken a toll on Kurama, thus giving Naruto a limited healing experience. She sighed agitatedly and started out the door.
Sakumo cursed the Academy for having school on rainy days such as that one. Even with an enormous umbrella that could fit a family of five—one could call it quite ridiculous—Sakumo still did not like the sound and humid weather the rain produced.
To Sakumo, rainy days were always bad days because in rainy days it was always hard to run through, things got muddy, the atmosphere was literally dark, and was a sign of bad luck.
He sighed. Kakashi, on the other hand, seemed content with the rain. The younger boy looked relaxed, not even bothered by the fact that it was very humid. Sakumo groaned inwardly.
"I told you I didn't need to be walked to the Academy, Dad," Kakashi droned.
This time, Sakumo groaned aloud, "You know how I care about your safety, Kashi. Anything could happen on a rainy day. The atmosphere's dark."
"Dad, you worry too much!" He huffed in annoyance then looked embarrassedly to the ground at his sudden outburst. He looked back at his father then continued, "And that goes for any other day, but I don't see you dropping me off to the Academy."
"So you want me to drop you off every day starting with today?" Sakumo replied with a sly smirk.
Kakashi, realizing his mistake, stuttered, which did not go unnoticed by Sakumo. "No-no." Kakashi looked down in thought, "I'm just saying I'm old enough-"
"I know you're old enough to do things, Kakashi. The thing is, before I let you do anything on your own, you need to prove to me you can make a single boiled egg on the stove and wash the dishes properly without any problems."
It was Kakashi's time to groan and he whined, "Daaad! I know!"
"Then don't complain to me anymore. That just shows how immature you're being." A satisfied smile graced Sakumo's lips.
When reaching the gates of the Academy, Kakashi turned to Sakumo and said his goodbyes. However when turning the other direction to head to the Academy building, Kakashi heard his father's footsteps resonating the wet ground. "Dad?" He turned again to face his father. "Aren't you going to go home like you always do?"
Sakumo laughed a bit bashfully and waved his hand. "No, no, I need to make sure you head to your room safely also."
"What are you talking about, Dad? You never do this," he gave Sakumo a suspicious look.
"Come on, Kashi-chan, let's go before the first bell rings." Sakumo placed a hand on Kakashi's small back.
"Dad!" He embarrassedly exclaimed, "Stop calling me Kashi-chan!"
When all Sakumo have Kakashi a smile, the younger boy reluctantly let his father escort him to his classroom. Sakumo stood by the doorway and looked the inside of the filled room. There were quite a bit of children there. He wondered how Naruto could behave all of them being that the children were still just at their peak of childhood.
Still having his mind occupied at Naruto, Sakumo glanced at the teachers' desk, expecting Naruto to be present, but when he saw a middle aged male shinobi stationed there, his heart sank a bit. "Guess she's not here today," he said a bit crestfallen. Of course this would happen, he though joylessly in his head, after all, the rain was bad luck.
He left the classroom after saying goodbye to Kakashi, and headed in the main road of Konoha, leading up to where the mercenaries should be. But because it was raining, no markets were opened. The only that should be opened were the moderate super markets located inside the village.
The man sighed in relief. Since it was raining, 7 AM, and the only facilities that were opened were supermarkets, then no was outside to see him under the protection of a ridiculously enormous umbrella.
However, what Sakumo did not expect was to see a struggling, hooded figure up ahead. The person looked like a fragile and petite older lady and her back was arched forward in a bad posture
He wondered if they had needed any help, but then, when seeing the obviously large cast on their arm was apparent, Sakumo headed toward the figure and offered support.
She knew it. She knew that she should have gone to get the groceries on another day.
When heading out of the supermarket, Naruto's mood turned abysmal. There was no way that her small, kid-sized umbrella could shield her from the ever-progressing rain. Naruto let out a deep sigh and let a small line of words motivate her—ramen in the bag.
It was true—there were many different flavors of ramen in her bag that were also quite pricy. When she was younger, it was more about quantity then quality, but now, it was the opposite. However, after she got into teaching, and presently being in a paid rest, Naruto got both quality and quantity of that week's ramen.
She cursed. Instead of plastic, Naruto had paper bags. Again, she cursed.
After waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, Naruto gave in. There was nothing that could be done in waiting, so she stacked her bags meticulously, one by one, on top of each other and hugged them tightly on her chest while her free fingers, from her cast, grasped her small umbrella.
This, however, was not a good idea, because when she was at the midpoint of her apartment and the supermarket, her bags almost slipped, causing her to hunch over them in an effort to hold them. For a while, this worked, but when she tried to move, her bags would shuffle downwards.
Naruto's eyes widened comically. She had just realized that she was stranded, right in the middle of the now-muddy, Konoha roads.
The blond thinned her lips in regret for going out in the heavy rain. She looked around the streets, but no one was there, so, with great disappointment, Naruto waited.
"Um, ma'am?"
A slight gasp threatened to slip past Naruto's mouth. Who was her savior? She then turned around, as far as her hunched back could get her, then widened her eyes slightly, "Sakumo?"
Sakumo, who had a shocked face just before, burst out in a fit of laughter. "Naruto? Didn't expect to see you around." He said in between his chuckles as his mood instantly lifted.
"Yeah, it's me," she replied with a roll of her eyes. Then, her face turned pleadingly, "If you wouldn't mind..." Naruto's eyes centered to her groceries.
Sakumo then smiled sincerely, "Well, that's what I'm here for—to help."
Naruto straightened her back in sheer gratitude, however, when she heard a ripping sound, her face contorted into pure regret. "Please don't tell me-"
"Umm…oops?"
"No!" She scurried to the ground and dropped her umbrella.
When she got up after getting her presently soaked paper bags and her umbrella, Naruto let out a frustrated sigh. "Big help you're being," Naruto voiced sarcastically.
Sakumo smiled a bit in amusement, "I don't think you could shield anything with that petite umbrella of yours."
Naruto glared, "And I think you could fit a whale in yours. Where'd you get it, huh? The beach?"
"Whoa there, Miss. I'm just trying to be of help." He grinned when she glared at him again, "If you want, we could share my so-called beach umbrella? What do you say? There is always nothing wrong in sharing once in a while."
Naruto stared at him, then sighed, giving in with a small smile gracing her lips, "You're right," she repeated, "there is always nothing wrong in sharing once in a while."
They walked under the umbrella in a comfortable silence. Sakumo, for the first time, actually thought the rain brought good luck.
"Thanks, Sakumo," Naruto said with gratitude.
"Course, Naruto, it was nothing."
They stood in front of each other in complete silence until Naruto said in an unsure tone, "Well—I can't believe I'm saying this—but, you wanna come in to eat some ramen?" She looked elsewhere from Sakumo's face, who held amusement, then rambled, "'Cause I don't think you've eaten anything at all today—I mean, I haven't either, so-"
"Sure, Naru. I could use some ramen right now."
Naruto faced him again, not quite sure why she felt so flustered, "Really?"
"Of course. After someone helps another, isn't it just plain old manners to reward the helper?"
Naruto sighed in annoyance. That sounded familiar. Now, she really didn't know why she was feeling so flustered. "Never mind," Naruto muttered under her breath and shut the door.
She then turned around to find Sakumo already inside her apartment, looking interestedly at her furniture and personal items. Unsurprised, Naruto just withdrew a deep sigh and commanded the man, "Fine, since you're already here, start to boil the water. The pots are under the sink."
Her voice faded away as she traveled down her hallway and into her room, leaving Sakumo to think if she was ever going to come out and help him. He shrugged and strayed inside Naruto's kitchen to retrieve a pot and filled it with water to boil it.
For the five minuets it took to boil the water down completely, Naruto had come out of the room, to Sakumo's pleasure, and they settled in Naruto's living room couch in front of the television.
"Mm," Naruto sniffed her steaming bowl, "this smells good."
Sakumo nodded in agreement and took the first bite. "So what are we going to watch?" He said in between chews.
"I dunno." She then looked at him weirdly, "And aren't you gonna go get a mission or something?"
He shook his head, "No, the Hokage said to take a week's rest." He then lit up in realization, "Is that why you weren't in class today?"
Naruto raised a brow, "In class? How did you know?"
A faint blush tinted Sakumo's cheeks. He didn't mean for that to slip. "I mean, you're here, aren't you?"
This time, Naruto blushed in embarrassment. "Of course." She then took her remote and turned on the television.
"Hey," Sakumo voice, breaking the silence between them.
"Hm?"
"Remember that time I paid for yours and Kushina-chan's ramen?"
Naruto had a look of contemplation then chuckled at the memory. She and Kushina got a total of thirty-two ramen, and the best part was that it was all coming from Sakumo's pocket. She gave him a side glance, "Are you seriously still crying about that, Sakumo? It's been like, I dunno, two months ago."
Sakumo pouted and stammered childishly, "No I am not. I'm just going to remind you that this isn't the ramen I'm thinking about."
"Hm? What are you talking about?" Naruto questioned, not quite understanding what Sakumo was getting at.
"Remember you said you'd pay for my ramen "next time"?" He answered with a sly smirk. "So when will be the day I get my ramen specifically at Ichiraku's?"
Naruto growled, "You..."
Sakumo hummed in response.
"How does this not count? This is special ramen!"
"Yeah, but I want Ichiraku's," he responded stubbornly with his arms crossed to his chest.
"C'mon Sakumo, this'll make my life easier," she gave him her most endearing puppy dog gaze.
A pang of compassion ticked Sakumo's heart and he dipped his head, "Fine," then he restrung it in a jerking fashion, "Just kidding! I need to return the favor by making your life filled with debt!" His laughter filled the whole apartment.
Naruto leaned over to him and put her hands to his mouth, "Shhh!" She glared. "The kids'll wake up, and so far, I don't want to deal with them if I can't handle just one kid right now."
"Hey!" He protested.
"Nee-chan?"
Naruto's head jerked upwards when she heard Yahiko's familiar voice.
"Yahiko-kun?" She said in a small voice.
A loud trio of yawns escaped the apartment's rooms. Yahiko answered Naruto, "I want breakfast."
Naruto rolled her eyes in amusement. She got off Sakumo and told him, "Sit up straight. I don't anything bad to influence them."
"Hey!" He cried in mock-hurt.
"Do you guys want ramen?"
"Oh yeah, ramen for breakfast. What a healthy breakfast!" Sakumo said sarcastically.
"Shut up, that's all I have."
"Whatever."
"Guys just make the water. The cups are in the cup board."
"'Kay Nee-chan!" The three said in a chorus. "Who's that?" They inquired when they saw Sakumo.
Naruto smiled uneasily, then shot a warning look to Sakumo. "Guys, if you hadn't known by now, this is Sakumo-san."
Sakumo raised a silver brow. Naruto gave him a reassuring glance and talked to the kids. "Be polite and try not to make such a mess in the kitchen." She sighed, then put her hands to her hips, "And please," she emphasized, "please don't hurt yourselves."
"Hey look, it's rain!" Yahiko hollered to his friends when he glanced at the window.
"Yahiko!" Naruto stated sharply, "I'm talking to you!"
"Yeah, yeah, Nee-san. Guys lets go see!"
"Nee-san," Konan added.
"Yahiko! Konan!"
"Please Nee-san," Nagato pleaded. "Just five minuets."
Naruto widened her eyes at Nagato's proclamation. She pinched the bridge of her nose, then surrendered, "Fine, ten minutes. If you guys come complaining to me when you're sick, I'm not making you soup."
They gave her goofy smiles and scurried outside.
"Hm?" Sakumo raised his brow, "Quite a bunch you got."
"Don't tell me about it." She smiled though, "But they make life less lonely."
Sakumo gave her a sad smile, "Kashi too. If I didn't have him, I don't know what I'd do."
Naruto gave him a questioning look, but decided not to pry. She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder then smirked deviously and bent down to his ear and whispered, "So, when are you gonna leave." Naruto stood up straight and gave him a cheeky grin.
Sakumo sighed, then stood up, taking the bowl up and dropping it in the sink. He then stood in front of Naruto and had a smug smirk. "Look, Naru. I'm still waiting for our little ramen outing 'kay?"
Naruto looked up at him seeing that he was easily at least five inches taller then her. She scowled then rolled her eyes, "Fine."
"Great," he eye smiled, took his large umbrella, and walked to her window sill. The male gave her a two-finger salute and jumped briskly out the window.
Naruto uncrossed her arms, but couldn't get the small smile off her face. She sighed. Well, what could she say? She couldn't deny that spending time with Sakumo was enjoyable.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, I apologize to anyone who was looking for a major battle scene between Ame and Konoha. I was just too uninspired since the last chapters were filled with fights and sorts. By the way, if any of you guys were confused when Sakumo brought up the ramen bet thing, the reference is in Chapter 10. Anyway, how'd you guys like this chapter? Be sure to leave a reveiw;)