Naruto sat in the middle row of a mostly empty plane, reluctant to see the view from the window seat. The plush cushions underneath him an unfamiliar luxury. The medals on his chest an unfamiliar weight.
It was funny. After defeating Pein, there'd been no fancy ceremony or celebration, only exasperated thankfulness at having the dead returned to them before they'd had to push forward. But there'd also been a bleak hopelessness as they looked upon the remainder of their once proud village, surveying all the work left ahead of them, dreading that next step.
And when he'd left the loose collective of tribes known as Afghanistan, there was no one to revive the dead. Friends and enemies alike were buried in the soil which would scarce see any change and remain as it had for thousands of years. Their bones would wither to dust before the first foundation was lain.
And here he was, returning to civilization, a hero. It wasn't the feeling he was expecting.
"We are beginning our final approach into Fire-Country International Airport. Please return your seatbacks and tray-tables into their upright and locked positions. Upon landing, you will be required to show proof of visa and proper ID. Be sure…"
Naruto listened to the spiel absently as it was repeated in both French and Elemental Japanese, noting the strangeness of hearing it spoken in his native tongue without noticeable accent. Before, he hadn't even noticed that they'd had an accent. It was like he was an outsider looking in. A foreigner.
But he was going home.
…
"Uzumaki. To what do I owe this visit?" He said with a small smile, not removing his eyes from the dog-eared book he was reading, some dime-novel that had probably been left in the lobby of the hospital. "Not that I don't enjoy the company, but I hardly think someone like me warrants such attention from the hero of the coalition." There was a somber amusement in his voice as he licked his unbandaged finger, reaching over to flip the page.
"You're looking good, sir. Baa-chan did a great job fixing you up." Naruto pointedly ignored the question, still thinking of himself as a soldier, not a hero.
"That she did. I wonder who I have to thank for such personal treatment." Belletriste mused accusingly as he eyed Naruto in the visitor's chair out of the corner of his eye.
"I believe someone in power is trying to make a political statement by diverting the serious casualties to the Senju Medical Group." Naruto rubbed the back of his head with fake humility. "Quite what they're saying though, I haven't the foggiest. Maybe something about cooperation? I was never good at politics." The last part he admitted bitterly.
"I see. Well then, I guess that's two favors I owe Lady Tsunade."
"I think it was Sakura-chan that fixed you up the first time."
"True enough." He set the book down gently on his lap, staring at his bandaged body with a sorrowful smile. "So you finally remember that, huh?"
"It took quite a while." Naruto admitted, scratching his whisker marks and looking at the empty corner of the room. "But yeah, I finally remembered when we first met, that day."
"I figured you would." Belletriste shrugged painfully, smiled bitterly. "To be fair, I didn't exactly look like 'myself' back then. I have your granny to thank for that."
He slowly and deliberately removed the thick plastic glasses from his face, dispelling the illusion with a dramatic poignancy. Naruto grimaced looking at the ravaged face which lay beneath the genjutsu, already used to such atrocities on corpses, but never on the unflappable commander whose youthful visage was one of the only saving graces for an abrasive personality.
"She did a great job, don't you think?"
"You don't look bad for a dead man."
"Indeed." He nodded seriously, looking down at the glasses he twirled between two mangled fingers. The tight flesh around his lips curled up in what might have been a smirk.
"I should have died that day. Your pink-haired teammate saved my life, and your godmother gave me back my career." He raised the unassuming eyewear to Naruto, pointing out the tiny but intricate seal on the inside brow. "She was able to reverse engineer her regenerative technique so that it would doll out chakra over a period of time, and feed from an external source kind of like a chakra battery. Enough to keep me intact, but not enough to enable the spread of the radiation cancer."
He returned the coke-bottle glasses to his head, and replaced the illusion like a mask over the slick scar tissue on his face.
"They also allow me to see again. This ended up being the prototype into chakra-based technological research including generation V night vision and optics. I worked on that for a little bit during my recovery as part of the first international cooperative." He nodded at the familiar black book Naruto had set down on the end-table, revealing how he came into possession of Jiraya's journal.
"So then, did you plan this all from the beginning?" Naruto gripped his knees, the barracks trousers losing their starched smartness as they pulled tight against his fingers. "Did you set all of us up to be under your command? Because you felt guilty for what you did back then?"
Naruto didn't really know how he felt about this revelation. He had a long time to think about it after the last battle, in the absence of urgency he allowed his mind to wander for the first time in ages. It was hard not to get lost in the conundrum that was cultural nuance. Bellestriste had taken an interest in him, and those like him for a reason he still could not comprehend. Should he be resentful or grateful? Or, perhaps, neither.
"At first. Maybe." Belletriste sighed after pausing for consideration. "Guilt certainly could have been part of it. You don't have to give me credit for all that planning, though. It was a haphazard search at best. That's why I hung around here for as long as I did after recovery, trying to search the elemental nations for you. When I couldn't find anything, I put in for a transfer from the 1ere RPIMA to the Legion, figuring that you might end up there. Well, you, or people like you.
"It could have also been curiosity. That indominable human emotion. I really can't say, I just felt a need to meet you face to face and find out what kind of person you were. All I had to go on were rumors turned into legends. I had to see for myself." He laughed, realizing the irony of looking through artificial eyes.
"Curiosity?" Naruto questioned with a hint of anger in his voice. Was he disappointed? Had he been anticipating a solid answer? Maybe he was just upset with himself for not living up to expectations.
"It's what drives the world to expand." Belletriste shrugged, acknowledging the feebleness of that excuse. "And, to shrink." He added, remembering how he ended up in the elemental nations the first time.
Naruto was upset. He was disillusioned. He didn't know why, but maybe that was part of it all. Before he could raise his voice in anger, however, the NCO interrupted him.
"I suppose I should apologize. Not for what I did back then, but for all the time I said nothing." Naruto felt himself calm slightly at this half-apology, willing to hear the man out.
"Maybe I convinced myself I was doing you a favor. Trying to give you a purpose again. But I ended up forcing my purpose upon you.
"We're two very, very different people, Naruto. I realize that acknowledging that now is rather useless, but maybe not. Maybe it's not too late for any of us. I have many answers, practical ones. But not for questions like that."
"Perhaps not." Naruto said after a deep breath, somehow placated by the man's honest words, or maybe wanting to contradict his negativity with a glimmer of hope.
"You see? That's the difference between the two of us. You can forgive a devil like me."
"You're not a devil or even a demon." Naruto said, speaking frankly.
"Hmph. Perhaps not. Just an asshole then? Either way, we can agree to disagree. That, and you don't have to do what I say anymore." He leaned over and flicked the shiny new badges on Naruto's collar, making the young man frown.
"I don't think I intend to make a career of this." He said, almost apologetically. He wasn't sorry to the bedridden man in front of him, but rather to all those he felt like he was abandoning. Friends and comrades both old and new which were no doubt relying on him to lead the way back with the rest of his unit. His unit, now. That was going to take some getting used to, and he wasn't sure if he liked the sound of it.
"That's your choice." Belletriste nodded. "I guess that means I'll have to get better, huh?" He patted the empty spot underneath the sheets where a leg should have been.
"You think you can manage that?" Naruto asked with a nervous smile, wondering if the man was being morbidly humorous.
"I've survived worse. Besides, if you're leaving, I'll need to assume my old job. Someone has to rally the men."
He said without sarcasm, making Naruto wonder where his confidence came from. He would believe, at least for now, that it was his own tenacious hope which had worn off on the salty commander. It would only be fair, having had a hand in tempering the hardness in the first place.
"Anyway, get out of here. You can't be hanging around dreary old men lest their pessimism rub off on you."
"You're not that old." Naruto chuckled amusedly.
"Maybe not, but why do I feel so damned ancient? Never mind. Get. Allez-vous!" He waved Naruto out with the back of his hand as he raised the same paperback with the arm in a cast.
Naruto nodded and stood up promptly as if it had been an order, saluting smartly before walking towards the sliding door. He stopped at the transept and turned around as the man seemingly went back to reading.
"Thank you, sir." He hadn't expected to say those words, nor even did he know why he was saying them now, only that it felt right.
Belletriste shook his head ruefully with a weak smirk. He set his book down again and looked at his former subordinate by the doorway.
"You're a legionnaire. You'll always be one, even if you quit now. You will never owe thanks."
He sat up straighter in the hospital bed, despite the obvious discomfort. He gave Naruto an open hand salute, puffing out his chest as much as was possible. Naruto returned the gesture before dismissing himself and closing the door. Belletriste's hand stayed up long after the door had shut.
"Vive la mort." (1)
…..
"Brat." The busty blonde smirked at him. "You don't look too bad. Almost like a real man."
"Tsunade-sama." Naruto nodded, replying to Tsunade's narrowing eyes. "You are looking well."
Naruto gave his godmother a weak smile, trying to convince the both of them that the formality was merely a jest. But the woman wasn't buying it, and sighed deeply, sweeping the at attention young man in her strong grip and ushering him down the hallway so they could walk and talk.
"Come, come, what's with that now? I'm no longer Hokage, remember? Or did you lose that fact in you thick skull?"
Naruto frowned, doing his best to fall back into the easy repartee he once held with his adopted grandmother. To tell the truth, he had been dreading this eventuality, and was actually grateful he hadn't run into any other of his past associates thus far. But being at the hospital, it was impossible to avoid this one.
"Sorry… Baa-chan, I guess I'm just not used to civilian life quite yet." He scratched the back of his head while putting on a clearly forced smile. Tsunade just sighed deeply and squeezed her godson harder, as if to prevent him from leaving again.
"You put in your request for discharge though, right? You know that the Elemental Nations are making an effort to welcome back ex-patriots now."
Naruto froze up at that bit of info.
"No, I didn't hear about that. When did it start?"
Sighing at once again being dragged into a political conversation, Tsunade let go of Naruto but continued to lead the two of them to her office for a much-needed glass of sake.
"Not too long ago. About the time it looked like the war if Afghanistan was wrapping up. The United States is still maintaining a monopoly on Iraq and the rest of the Middle East is looking pretty calm after what you did, so it doesn't look like there's going to be a whole lot of work for the foreign armies anytime soon." At least, that was the public stance on the matter, and Tsunade was neither privy to the political talks or interested in getting herself involved again.
Naruto gained a serious air as he contemplated the ramifications, his short military career not allowing him to take this with a grain of salt. Especially not after his conversations with Belletriste, and the debriefings the man made him attend. He was forced to imagine the worse-case scenario, and it appeared grim.
"What's the central government been doing?" Naruto asked, trying not to betray his curiosity. "Last I heard, they were having problems with unemployment and dissidence." The word seemed so strange in that context. To him it meant enemy. Did the government really think of their own people like that?
The former Hokage narrowed her eyes, not unaware of where Naruto was trying to lead her.
"Recently there's been an uptick in productivity, mostly due to government-sanctioned projects like the United National Railway and the big agricultural reform bill. Where they're getting the funds for this, I have no idea." She finished conspiratorially, and Naruto picked up on that subtlety.
"Deep government loans? Who's willing to fund the EN? The Daimyo aren't finally going to start giving a damn, are they?" Tsunade shook her head.
"That's the question, isn't it? But I think the more important thing is to ask what the lenders are going to want in return. Kami knows we can't pay them back with crops, and geological surveys are taking an outrageously long time without LIDAR2, foreign planes still aren't allowed to fly over our airspace, and so mineral resources are still being hand-mapped and extracted. Not to mention the lack of mining and other equipment. We're being hampered by our xenophobic policies."
Tsunade grumbled as she gestured to a couple of complex diagnostic machines they were passing the hallway. "We're still having to import most electronics from the more developed nations. We can't even begin to modernize ourselves and we're already looking to hire back hundreds of ninja who don't know how to anything but kill- uh, I mean, no offense, Naruto."
But Naruto was too busy parsing out his own thoughts to pay attention to the offhand slight at frontline fighters like him. He was too preoccupied trying to wrap his neophyte brain around what was happening in his home country ever since he became embroiled in a foreign conflict.
"Naruto?"
"Hm? Oh, sorry Baa-chan."
Despite the worried look on his godmother's face, the unconscious address made her smile again.
"You doing alright, brat?"
"Yeah, fine. Actually though, I think I'm going to have to take a raincheck on that drink." He said as he abruptly and broke away from his fellow blonde, taking a turn down an adjacent hallway. "I promise I'll regale you with all my tales of adventure later!" He called out to her as he jogged away.
"You better! I'm holding you to that as a promise!" She called out to him as he saluted her casually, disappearing around another corner.
"Damned brat…"
….
After he was sure Tsunade wasn't following him, Naruto slowed his jog and came to stop in a darkened dead-end hallway, staring at the unnamed doorway illuminated by a single fluorescent bulb.
"What do you want, Danzo?"
"I see your vacation hasn't dulled your senses any." The hoarse voice emerged with the black-swathed figure out of the shadows. Naruto scoffed.
"Nah, you're just getting old." He turned to face the man with a venomous glint in his steely blue eyes. "And careless, apparently."
Dazno just nodded, surprisingly. Ignoring, or perhaps agreeing with this assessment. Naruto stiffened at the unexpected reaction asking:
"What do you want, old man?"
"The same thing I have always wanted. The same thing you want now too." Used to the circuitous talk after three years of it under the military complex, Naruto decided to humor the man, nodding cautiously.
"Go on."
…
"It's very nice to see you again, Naruto." Terumi Mei drawled coyly from her intimidating position, planted behind a substantial wooden desk that was merely a thick vertical section of tree-trunk given varnish.
"An honor, Prime Minister. It's nice to know how many people seem to remember me from the old days." Naruto replied, not relaxing from his formal stance, hands clasped behind his back in front of the former Kage.
"Oh come now, Naruto-kun, no need to be so formal. That isn't like you. Aren't we more than just acquaintances by now? Besides, isn't that how things are outside of the Shinobi Nations? We can't let ourselves keep getting burdened by these antiquated practices."
"I'm starting to learn the advantage of political obfuscations when dealing with people I don't like."
Was what Naruto wanted to say. But he still forgot words like 'obfuscations', and despite being able to read through the lines of other people's words he still could not figure out how to phrase that political doublespeak to his own advantage. And so, he kept his mouth tightly shut and gave the woman a curt nod which could have meant anything.
But he couldn't hide the animosity on his face, and so he didn't even try. It was true that they had been more than mere comrades before the end of the Fourth Shinobi War, but whatever ties of friendship they had wove had been severed by what he now knew.
Mei looked decidedly put out, realizing that Naruto was not going to play ball. Had she really been hoping that his 'private audience' might have been for something more risqué? She had granted it to him regardless, based on his heroism in the Elemental Nations, but she was honestly looking forward to this get-together before getting sight of his serious expression.
She could ignore his impertinence, and continue to toy with him as was her usual want. But she had been serious before, about the need to reform, and prolonging this confrontation would only serve to make Naruto more confrontational.
"So what can I do for you, Corporal Uzumaki?" Her smile was half-hearted as she leaned back in her chair with arms steepled.
"Why did you do it, Mei?" She couldn't help but flinch at the disappointment rampant throughout his question.
"Oh, so now we're on a first name basis?" She covered up her own sadness with indignation. "You're going to have to be more specific, too. I have a lot of people who are pretty upset with me these days over one thing or another."
"You know what I mean," His hands wrenched each other painfully behind his back, keeping him from lashing out as he might have done just a few years ago. "Why did you allow weapons to be smuggled over your borders?"
"I didn't allow them to be smuggled. I facilitated it."
Naruto was taken aback by the blasé admission of guilt, so much so that he let his mouth hang open, very much a gawking teenager and not the hardened soldier he needed to be.
"Why?" He finally managed out.
Mei sighed and stood up, pushing her chair back and walking over to the wall-length windows which overlooked the bay of mist country. The sun was out for a rare occasion.
"You made it perfectly clear that despite all of your bravado about becoming Hokage, you clearly were not cut out for a leadership position. So I'm not sure explaining it would do any good."
"Try me." Naruto's sorrow quickly bled to anger at being lectured so pedantically.
"Very well. Despite you traipsing about the outside world for the last three and a half years, you must have heard at least a little about what has been going on in your home country." She wasn't looking at him, but still saw his guilty look in the reflection. She waited for him to nod and then continued.
"The people have been suffering. Despite the influx of technological and humanitarian aid in the beginning, all of that has dried up and we are left off in a worse position than before. Now people expect a higher living standard, and we have no way to give it to them. We don't have the technology to keep up with the rest of the world, and because of that, they treat us like the other third-world nations." She turned around to face him again, and he felt himself flinch at the bitter dullness in her normally gem-like eye.
"They wouldn't exactly be wrong. The only advantage we have over them is tourism, and even that is drying up as more and more countries regard us as a dangerous place to visit, with the legions of jobless ex-shinobi roaming the streets looking for a way to survive."
"So why can't you put them to work? Why can't you have people make jobs for people with their skillsets?" Naruto didn't understand why it couldn't be done when even the foreign armies managed to integrate them in their forces.
"There's too much internal bickering, and simply not enough funds to get it done." She shook her head ruefully. "I admit, that's what we should be doing, and what is just starting to happen. But in order to train our people and get the necessary equipment, we need a way of making money. The only business we know is war. And when the offer came, along with the substantial payout, I would have been neglecting my duty had I refused."
Now Mei's voice was escalating in volume, and she was once again glad of the privacy seals permanently affixed to the large doorway. She didn't know why she was getting so emotional defending her actions, but that sort of thing tended to happen around Uzumaki Naruto.
"What would you have had me do?" She questioned him before he could refute her previous point. "Had I refused the job, more people would have starved and your precious Konoha would have devolved into anarchy with people competing for basic resources."
Again, Naruto looked ready to deny this claim vehemently. But with his experience in the outside world, he had become less jaded to the truth about human nature.
"As it stands, we were given a generous amount to smuggle the weapons over the border and arm the rebels. We even got to keep a lot of the arsenal as part of the deal. So now, not only do we have a seed to start revitalizing the nations to modern standards, we once again have a military which is the equal, if not greater than any other in the world."
"Some of those 'rebels' were your own people, and the ones they were fighting were also born here!"
The way she talked about the conflict just a few hundred kilometers away like it was on another planet struck a nerve in Naruto. Not only because he lost friends to these 'rebels' but because he'd had to kill some of these people himself, perpetuating the insanity which plagued the Elemental Nations before exposure to the World at large.
"Just because they were born here doesn't make them our concern." Mei said coldly, eyeing Naruto with a freezing gaze despite the room which shot up a few degrees as her bloodline was unknowingly released. "They're no longer our citizens. Just like you are, Uzumaki."
She was just about ready to show him to the door, aware that things could escalate out of hand very rapidly, and no matter how foolish it would be to make an enemy out of Naruto, neither could she afford the political fallout that would come with a battle in her office.
But before she could even reach the call button on her desk, his hand grabbed her wrist tightly, unbidden by the intense heat it was giving off. Her eyes widened even as steam rose from the contact.
"What are you-!?"
"You can't say that they aren't your problem." Naruto spoke calmly, but firmly, making her stop struggling against his improbably strong grip. It didn't take that much convincing, either. She never knew the young man was capable of moving that fast. "You're exporting our issues to other countries and you can't do that. Part of belonging in the world is being concerned about the rest of it. You can't affect one country without having it effect you in return."
Kind of like how the Legion affected him. He would like to believe that he made his mark on it in return.
"Let me go."
His piece said, Naruto did as asked and released her wrist. Stepping back, he raised his hands peacefully, inadvertently showing his palm which had suffered no ill-effect from touching the molten flesh. He fully expected her to call for her guards and have him arrested, where he would be at best court-martialed and at worst thrown into the Elemental Nation's still infamous Blood Prison.
But she didn't. She just looked down at her unmarked wrist and rubbed it in wonder, perhaps aware of her own lapse in self-control. And maybe, just whether holding herself back had been worth it. Things had been so much simpler in the days when might made right. But did they really want to go back to that?
"How did you find out?" She asked after a period of silence.
"Danzo told me." He admitted with a small smile at the absurdity of it.
"And you believed him? That's probably the most shocking thing today." She laughed dully, and Naruto mimicked the gesture.
"Yeah, he and I don't usually see eye to eye. But in this case, he brought up a pretty convincing argument that just sounded like his sort of motivation."
"And that is?"
"We need to be strong on our own. He's upset with what's happening to Konoha, and I don't blame him. We both believe that our people need to be independent, or at least, not reliant on the outside world. While I wouldn't put it past him to be the one to do something underhanded like arms-smuggling, he seems to be looking more long-term than either you or I."
"Ironic. He probably won't even see out the decade, so what does he care what happens to us? The Konoha of his time is long dead and gone."
Naruto frowned, unable to deny this, and ignoring what might have been a veiled threat at the old war-monger. He himself had yet to lay eyes upon his hometown since leaving Afghanistan, the hospital complexes lay outside what was once the maximum boundaries of the village. The new sprawling urban development could be seen from the airport, and he had avoided looking down on the 'Village' from the plane. It was already changing when he had left, and he didn't think he'd like what it had turned into.
"Say what you want about Danzo. I can't blame you for hating him, as I'm not too fond of him myself. But don't deny that he holds concern for what happens to the people here. He may be an old codger, but maybe he's the only one of us looking ahead to a future, not concerned about where he fits in it."
Naruto smiled, thinking about how truly ironic it was. Maybe that was Danzo's secret, though. He didn't have to worry about becoming obsolete, and so could pave the way for a new generation without concern about his own relevancy.
Mei saw the far-off look in Naruto's eyes and sighed, leaning against the sturdy desk.
"I'd like to think things were easier back then, despite everything. It was always kill or be killed, and the only one who didn't seem to know that was you."
"The good old days?" Naruto drawled with a cocked eyebrow.
"I suppose so."
"There were never any 'good old days'." Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets, the gesture which once felt so familiar in his shinobi youth, now ingrained in his soldering mind to be a blasphemy. Yet he wasn't either any more. "It's just a stupid thing we say. There's today, and there's tomorrow." He turned to go, ignoring the curious look on the Prime Minister's face.
"That's it?" She asked, once again taken aback by the lack of contention, the simple way he dismissed her instead of arguing stubbornly.
"I didn't come here to tell you how to do your job." Naruto said, facing the large double-doors, the wooden carving depicting a scene from the Third Shinobi War. He came face to face with the likeness of his father as the man stood proud in front of a ninja army. "I came here to have a question answered, and you did that gratefully, Prime Minister." He nodded over his shoulder before he began to press on the door.
"What will you do now?" She asked as the hinges creaked. Maybe she lost the right, but she still felt some concern for the young man she once fancied as a brother, a child, a hero, a lover.
He turned back around and gave her a wide smile, the closest thing he had come to his previous demeanor in a long time.
"What I should have been doing all along."
…
Temari walked out of the hospital, a free woman. But alone.
Gaara had been kind enough to see his big sister during her recovery, but Kankuro was still not talking to her and pointedly keeping his distance when forced to be in her company. She couldn't blame him. At once still convinced that what she had done was right, she also felt a significant shame when her ruse was revealed. She never expected forgiveness, not from her family and certainly not from the Elemental government who sued for her release shortly after the battle of Wakahm Corridor. She suspected her brother had something to do with that, but the stoic redhead revealed nothing but concern in his visits.
The questions of where to go and what to do entered her mind, but she couldn't think of a good answer. She couldn't even decide if she was hungry, despite eating next to nothing for days. She just felt like she had to keep going, and so she walked out the front door and into the glorious day which had no right to be so beautiful.
"Hey."
Amidst the cacophony of sounds and sights bombarding her from every angle, the greeting was singled out in her mind and her paranoid reflexes made her jump.
"N-Naruto?" She asked incredulously, as if this might be some specter here to haunt her for her sins. But like the day, it was too bright and cheerful to be her eternal tormentor.
"In the flesh." He replied cheekily as if reading her expression.
She was still wary of this stranger, his smart fatigues still invoking the concept of 'enemy'. It would be a long time before she could differentiate the two.
But Naruto didn't seem to think that way, even as he swept over her darkly tanned face and ragged hair, he only seemed to be looking at her eyes. She suddenly felt distinctly uncomfortable under his inspection, and rubbed the arm of her hospital smock embarrassingly. She almost missed the anonymity of the shalwar kameez and shemagh, but right now would even settle for being naked if only she had a veil to cover up her true shame.
"Temari,"
Still, when he called her name she looked at him, both bitter that he could command her attention so, and ashamed at his genuine-sounding concern.
"What do you want?" The part of her which was still a prisoner of war bit out, making her other part wince.
"I just want to talk, to an old friend." He took a step forward but frowned when she took a step back.
She was like a spooked cat, ready to gore him if he came closer.
"Friend? How can you- how dare you consider me your friend after all-?"
She wanted to hit him. She wanted to kill him. How could he act so altruistic and righteous after everything that he did? After everything that she did? What gave him the right to be so forgiving when she couldn't forgive herself?
Temari was swiftly raising her voice and with their place just outside the hospital main entrance, it was clear they were causing a scene. But Naruto didn't care. The only concern on his mind was making sure Temari didn't feel cornered. He took another step closer to her, his arms held palm-out by his sides.
*Wham!*
Naruto crumpled to the ground as Temari hit him with a panicked left-cross. Immediately her face became as shocked as the rest of the onlookers and she seemed to come to her senses and realize what she had done. Part of her was panicking, and was preparing to run while that other half wanted to stay and help Naruto to his feet.
The decision was made for her as Naruto sat up, still smiling brightly at her despite his cartoonishly swollen cheek.
"Now that you got that out of your system, can we talk now?"
…
"You killed a lot of my friends, you know."
Temari flinched and held herself reflexively as Naruto offhandedly reminded her that she was the 'bad guy'.
They had ended up in a park, not too far away from the Fire Country's general hospital. She had been sent there because it was the closest in proximity to the international airport, and because with Tsunade Senjuu running it, it was still the best in the whole region. IT still felt strange being treated like a normal patient, and not a prisoner.
Though it seemed like they wandered there, Naruto had steered them subtly, knowing that Temari might be very shy of crowds. Though hardly anyone had payed attention to the happenings outside of there sheltered existence, and fewer would know of her involvement on the losing side of the recent conflict.
"This was my first unit picture." Naruto said wistfully as he pulled out a folded 8 x10 photograph, handing the wrinkled image to her. She didn't want to look at first, but eventually forced herself to take in the smiling and confident faces lined up next to one another in full combat gear in a mountainous area Temari tried to convince herself looked familiar.
"Out of those 36, I think 7 are still alive." Temari didn't know how she felt about that, but quickly handed the picture back to Naruto, lest she slip and tear it.
"You think?" She asked with clenched teeth, anger and sadness indistinguishable. Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, a few are MIA, but they might have gone AWOL or switched sides and got lost with the body count." He gave a dead laugh and shook his head. "The strange thing is… I don't even remember half their names." She stilled her anger and looked at him, questioning this strange admission.
"We were supposed to be brothers in arms, comrades, and yet I hardly even knew their faces. Even the ones which eventually came from the Elemental Nations, I would have a hard time if you asked me for details. I suppose that I can't really call them friends then, huh? Not like Sasuke and Sakura. I trusted them enough to fight and die by their sides, but none of us stopped to ask what we were fighting for. So now I ask what…" She continued to watch him as his unblinking eyes began to water. "…what was it all for?"
Two tears ran down his cheeks as he stared at the photograph of dead people. But he limited himself to these two indulgences, because he promised he wouldn't shed any more.
"You…" Temari began and Naruto wiped his eyes with his wrist before looking at her. "You killed a lot of my comrades as well." She ended, feeling fairly pathetic.
"Yeah, I did." He nodded, folding the picture and reverently putting it back in his breast pocket.
The two sat in that all-too cheerful park, watching the children play and couples walk by without a care. Neither knew what to say, but could at least understand one another better than the hundreds of people around them who were oblivious to the strife the rest of the world went through daily.
"Can we…" Naruto ventured, breaking the prolonged silence. "Can we try to move on, though?"
"How?" Temari sighed, running her hand through her short, dusty-blonde hair which was just beginning to regrow after being buzzed during her short stay in prison.
"How do we go from being… whatever we are. I'm not even talking about enemies. I mean soldiers. Fighters. Shinobi. Killers." She hugged herself, not knowing what her hands might wish to do otherwise. "Being a kunochi back home was important. Being a strong one was even more so, because it gave me protection, rights. Even today in every place I've seen women are treated as second-class citizens. Even if things change… and I admit that they seem to be. Even if they do, how do I stop thinking like that? How do I become a person in a world where I don't think I'll ever fit in?"
Naruto smiled and turned on the bench to face her.
"When people join the French Foreign Legion, they resign their name. After their time in service, they get to pick a new name to be on their passport, and that's what they go by from then on." Temari listened patiently while her fellow blond seemingly went off on a tangent.
"It may seem just like a formality, or maybe just symbolic, but I think there's something more fundamental about it. Even if it is just a symbol, I think it's a nice one. Giving yourself the chance to start over. Ending whatever mistakes you made in the past, and starting afresh."
"Easy as that?" She scoffed pessimisticly.
"Easy as that." He nodded with a reassuring smile.
"But you can't just forget who you were and what you have done." She insisted, feeling a wellspring of emotions begin to boil in her throat. "That's a disgrace to everyone who knew you, everyone you helped and hurt."
Naruto took her almost frantic denial with a small but unflappable smile. So unlike the one he had worn as a child, and yet undeniably his.
"Not if you do it right. Here, let me show you: Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, person. Nice to meet you."
Despite the deluge of sorrow and acrimony which had all but drowned them when they had confronted it, this unburdened answer made her laugh uncontrollably. It might have looked like she was insane, but then again, maybe she was. Maybe they all were.
Her laughter was infectious, and Naruto was soon swept up as well, already realizing the morbid hilarity of it all.
When they both calmed down, Temari noticed that his hand was still outstretched, and he looked expectantly into her eyes. She easily intertwined her hand in his.
"I'm Sabaku no Temari. Hajime Mashite."
"Enchente."
….
"Continuing the series of startling news coming out of the Middle and Central East, the Elemental Nations have made their first major extension to a country outside their borders. This afternoon, meeting in the historic city of Samarkand in neighboring Uzbekistan, the Prime Ministers of the EN and Afghanistan met and discussed mutually beneficial trade agreements, expanding on individual enterprises already underway in both countries which promise to revitalize both economies and infrastructures.
"For those of you skeptical about this deal, you are certainly have justification. This region has long since been a hotbed of conflict, civil wars within the Elemental Countries stretching back hundreds of years and a not much better track record for Afghanistan. And neither country has ever been successfully conquered by an outside power, so this could end up being the most formidable alliance since the Axis powers if left unchecked. Though whether it is dangerous for the parties involved, or for the world at large, remains to be seen.
"Allegations of illegal arms shipments coming out of the EN are still left unanswered, although it is rumored that after this newest treaty is ratified, the current Prime Minister of the EN will step down in response to the allegations. A sudden and startling move, but keeping in line with a long tradition of silence and duty that is without a doubt, characteristically 'shinobi'."
…
"We are here, live, on the border between Tajikistan and the Elemental Nations, where the situation continues to deteriorate. Federal Russian troops have already been deployed with the permission of the Tajik government across their country, and have set themselves up just on the other side of the border. You can see their encampment just over the far ridgeline there.
"The United Nations has already issued a referendum for a multinational peacekeeping force to be deployed to the border with the Earth Country. As usual, elements of the French Foreign Legion are some of the first on site besides the local defense force. Whether or not this will turn into a full-scale invasion remains to be seen.
"We are luck to be able to ask this question to a professional soldier, Major Michele Belletriste of the French Foreign Legion's 1st Parachute Regiment. He is a veteran of Afghanistan, as well as the Battle of First Contact, and so is intimately familiar with the EN and no stranger to combat. Major, can you explain to us the situation?"
"I'll do my best, but naturally as a soldier my opinion will be biased to what I can see in front of me. The Russians are upset at the expansion of the treaty between Afghanistan and the EN now including several other surrounding Nations which are historically Russian turf: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are all looking to get in on this deal, and that's making the Russians nervous. They also have the backing of the Chinese because of rumors Mongolia is seeking the EN's help in independence."
"I see. What about the Russian President's declaration that this move is in response to the EN illegally smuggling Federal Russian property across the border to Afghanistan during the war? You were there, does this statement have any validity?"
"Perhaps, but I highly doubt the Russians would let anything like that happen without their consent. As I said, they are scared at the rapid expansion of a country which, 20 years ago, wasn't even on the map. Whatever the truth may be, the Elemental Nations are certainly changing the power dynamic in the region."
"So, are you prepared to fight against the Russians should an invasion actually take place? Wouldn't that have the potential to kick off WWIII?"
"The Legion is always ready to fight. Make no mistake. However, under the UN mandate we are here strictly on an advisory and humanitarian basis. A show of support, if you will, to our allies."
"How is this different than the policy that was so heavily criticized in the Congo? Many people still blame the UN negligence for the genocide that happened there (3)?"
"Because, madam, we are not in the Congo. This isn't a civil war, and the Elemental Nations are fully capable of defending themselves. As I said, this is a show of support, to dissuade the situation from every getting to the point of conflict."
"Forgive me, but do you really have confidence that this will work? The Russians are showing an extremely aggressive stance here, and to the rest of the world, things look pretty grim."
"Perhaps. Call me sentimental, but I believe that someday our offspring will look back on us and say that this was our finest hour (4), where we stood on the brink of destruction and managed to walk away. Humanity survived the Cold War intact, and I feel this will be no different. We are entering a time where the rules are different, and if the Russians can't realize this, then they have already lost the battle."
"That's quite the optimistic attitude. What gives you this confidence? Is it because you survived such a debilitating injury and yet have gone back to the battlefield?"
"What? Oh, the leg *laughs*, madam, I have suffered far worse than this, and I have this country to thank for getting me back on my feet."
"You must have had quite a difficult career, and yet you still manage to keep such a great attitude. How is that?"
"As I said, I have this wonderful country to thank for setting me upright. Not just with their state-of-the-art prosthetics, but there is also something very inspiring about the people and their ways. Something that makes you have the utmost confidence in what they are doing, and faith for the world in general."
"That's a lot of faith to have against something so dire."
"I'm not arguing there. But that's why we're here. To let them know they're not doing this alone."
"I guess only time will tell. Thank you very much, Major."
…..
"…With the end of what is coming to be known as 'The Bloodless Wars', the Prime Minister of the Elemental Nations, Sabaku no Gaara issued this simple statement:"
"'We never had anything but confidence that we would succeed. Our history is admittedly one of bloodshed, my own not exempt from this generality. Thus, I think it is important to be the ones taking the fist step towards a universally peaceful response to violence.'"
"Though declining to comment further, his advisors did commend specific individuals within the ranks of both the UN Intervention and Interdiction Force as well as their own 'Negotiators team'.
"There is still very little information available outside the country on one of these individuals mentioned, one Naruto Uzumaki, who, as rumor has it, single handedly diffused a potentially bloody standoff between soldiers of the UNIIF and a Russian first-strike battalion. Some cultural experts theorize that this is the same former shinobi who also personally brought the last Civil War to a close. Although there is still much disagreement.
"Further intrigue with this character resides in the low-key public statement made yesterday that he is now engaged to the Prime Minister's elder sister. The country-wide festivity which falls within the wake of celebration of the signing of the non-aggression pact, is sure to be a one-in-a-lifetime spectacular, and we here in the west can't help but wonder what sort of back-alley dealings are really behind this 'political alliance'.
"As we have learned with watching the EN, nothing is ever simple, and dark controversy still revolves around the betrothed. Some have accused Sabaku no Temari of terrorist actions during the Afghan war, although nothing can yet be confirmed-"
…
"Hey! Why'd you turn it off?"
The redhead shot her partner a skeptical look.
"Were you really watching that?"
"Kind of." Karui's eyebrow arched further into her bandana. "Okay, not really." Tenten sighed as she flopped down into her wicker chair, whipping the sweat from her brow.
"I just liked the part where they were talking about Naruto and Temari's wedding. I thought it was sweet."
Karui feigned gagging until Tenten whipped out a kunai, brandishing it menacingly.
"Better than sitting in a marsh of our own sweat, I guess." Karui accepted after a while, still relishing the relative quiet which came with shutting off the boob-tube.
Relative, because the jungle outside was still a symphony of noise, parakeets and macaws, and all manner of primates each shrieking at one another incessantly, all under the shroud of an unbearably oppressive wet heat.
"Ugh, why did we sign up for this again?" Karui lamented, throwing herself into a seat next to Tenten, between the woman and the ancient fan which was the only source of air in the room.
"Because," Tenten growled, crawling over her partner to angle the fan so that it blew exclusively on her. "we thought it would be a good idea to make non-com so we got some kind of pension. And then when we were done, we could retire to somewhere in South America where it was cheap and warm."
"Oh yeah…" Karui wondered aloud. "But why here, again? I like the heat, but it's…" She glanced at the aging mercury thermometer on the wall next to the empty window. "41 degrees (5). Ugh."
"Don't forget the humidity." Tenten quipped, ignoring the sweat as it dripped down her brow while she leaned over in concentration, cleaning her weapon for the umpteenth time.
"I didn't. Which is why I ask, why did we transfer here again?"
"Beats me."
"Commanders!" A face which was even sweatier than theirs appeared in the windowless sill.
"What?" The easily aggravated redhead groused.
"Uh, the unit has completed the jungle course." The swarthy man answered.
"Already? Excellent!" Karui stood up abruptly, managing to look imposing despite the revealing nature of her issue tropical uniform. "Then you may do it again!"
"Again? But commander-" The man flinched, but experience taught him not to flinch too much as his dark-skinned cheek was grazed by an incredibly sharp blade thrown by the other officer faster than he could see.
"Again."
"Y-yes, aright. I mean, yes sir!"
Karui watched the recruit flee from their hut as fast as he could to deliver the 'good news' to his class. She smirked lightly watching the as the group mimed complaints and curses at their fellow would-be legionnaire.
"Do you think it's a little unfair to ask them to do it again? I mean, most of them are just average humans." She asked after a while, still watching the group of tired men and woman trudge into the jungle.
"Do you want to do it with them?" Tenten asked, having moved on from firearms to her blades.
"It would be fair, and probably inspire them." The brunette arched an eyebrow at this sympathetic outlook, and Karui turned to meet a look of incredulity.
"Nah, you're right." She planted herself in her usual space next to Tenten, hooking the preoccupied woman under her arm. "Such is the benefit of experience." She let go when threatened with numerous pointy implements that Tenten extracted from god-knew-where.
Sighing with both exasperation and contentment, Karui picked the remote back up off the rough wood floor and pointed it at the tiny square box suspended in the corner.
"Let's see what's on next."
….
(1) Can either mean 'long live the dead', or sometimes more literally 'long live death'. It's also part of a rhyme which follows:
Vive la mort,
Vive la Guerre,
Vive la sacre legionnaire
(2) LIDAR is like Radar with light waves, and they can see through treetops and other obstacles. It exists today, but is super expensive because you have to fly a plane over the area you want to look at, and in this situation the Elemental Nations don't want foreign aircraft over their airspace, for obvious reasons.
(3) The 1994-5 Rwandan genocide (there were others, but this is the one that people remember). The UN were criticized because they had such strict rules of engagement, they were practically useless. The French mission which was separate from the UN, also got criticized for letting a lot of genocidaires escape into Congo and Burundi along with Refugees.
(4) Reference to Winston Churchill's speech of the same title.
(5) 105 F, and in French Guiana, also like 99% humidity. Eew.
So wait... that's it? Abrupt ending I know. But the truth is that I had something like this planned from the beginning. This wasn't designed to be an epic length (like my other stories) and that's probably for the best. This was designed originally as a purge for my ideas more fleshed out than a oneshot. But in the course of writing it, I have been reinvigorated with new ideas that beg me to use them, so don't be surprised if there is a similar story sometime in the future. I consider this a rough draft, as I do everything else in my life. Thankfully with this I get a second chance. So for those scant few who made it this far, and for the even fewer who are reading this, thanks for sticking with me and I'll see you in the near future.