I certainly got some... interesting reviews for the last chapter.

A huge shout out to The True Not Important who has been reviewing every chapter since I started this story. It's people like this that inspire me to keep updating the story. :)

Thanks to Breebree811, The True Not Important and TheOrangeStar802 for the reviews!

"What... what happened...?"

Sasuke sat up to see a mess of pink hair and a head resting on his stomach. Sakura was bawling her eyes out, and Tazuna stood behind her, looking grimly down on the both of them.

The bridge builder looked incredibly surprised to see Sasuke awake.

"What happened?" The Uchiha repeated drowsily.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura gasped. "You're alive!" She wrapped the boy into a hug.

Sasuke blushed, not used to such close contact with a female that wasn't his relative. But then he recalled what Haku had done to him. The needles...

"I'm not... dead...?" He asked himself lamely.

"Of course you aren't, you silly..." Sakura continued crying, now hugging him tighter. Unsure of what to do, Sasuke simply nodded slowly.

Tazuna helped the injured ninja up, and the three walked back towards Itachi. Sasuke gasped as he saw the remains of an unrecognizable body, charred and burned.

That's big brother's Amaterasu! Is that... Zabuza? Sasuke stared hard at the remains. No... Haku?

He frowned as he thought of the Ice Style user that'd put him into momentary death.

He did it on purpose... he had so much power, so much skill, but he didn't want to kill me... what a guy...

Sasuke's eyes widened as he took in the sight of more bodies. Itachi and Naruto were both standing a distance away, watching the carnage. Zabuza had a kunai in his mouth and was stabbing an army of rogues with ease.

"What... happened?" He started in surprise, as Zabuza finally beheaded Gato. The short man's head rolled onto the ground.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled. "You're... you're alive!" The blonde did a little dance happily, causing Sakura to shoot him a weird look.

"Of course I am," the Uchiha Genin replied, frowning.

Team 7 and Tazuna walked up to Zabuza, and Sasuke did not fail to notice another crowd of Wave countrymen, standing opposite the now deceased rogues carrying weapons of their own. Leading them was the young boy Naruto failed to get along with. Inari, his name was.

What exactly happened here? Sasuke thought.

Zabuza had seemingly collapsed from exhaustion. The missing-nin glanced up at Team 7.

"Hey... Itachi..." He panted. "Can you... can you take me over... to... him?"

"Sure," Itachi nodded, a sad smile on his face. Carrying his former opponent up, the Jonin walked over to the burnt remains of Haku, and set the dying swordsman down.

So those remains... they are that masked boy... Sasuke nodded, understanding.

Snow started falling, and Zabuza looked up into the sky, his face one of surprise.

"Snow... are you crying, Haku?" He mused. "You were... always by my side... I'd like to be by your side... at the end..." Zabuza looked towards the black remains. "If I could... I'd like to... go to the same place as you..."

Looking up at Itachi and Team 7, the former Kiri man gave a small genuine smile.

"Itachi... I don't know what I'm... thanking you for... but... thank you..."

Itachi simply nodded, smiling.

"And you... the blonde brat..."

Naruto's attention was instantly on Zabuza, a questioning gaze in his eyes.

"You're going to be one big shot someday... I just know it... the Hokage... is definitely... an achievable aim... for you... Naruto..."

Tears leaked out of Naruto's eyes, but he quickly wiped them away.

Zabuza... Itachi looked down at the dying man. I'm sure... you can go to the same place as Haku.

With those last words, Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist, was no more.

"Eh... Itachi-sensei."

"Hm?"

Itachi turned towards Naruto.

Team 7 were at Zabuza and Haku's graves. The two former ninja were buried near the sea, overlooking the completed bridge.

"Were those two correct about ninjas?" Naruto looked down towards the grass in a depressing manner. "About how a shinobi isn't supposed to pursue his own goals, and that becoming the country's tool was the most important? Is that what it really means to become a true ninja?"

Itachi eyed his student. "In a way, yeah..."

"You know what?" Naruto frowned. "I don't like it!" He grinned, a light bulb flicking on in his head. "Okay, I've just decided! I'm going to be a ninja in my own way!"

"I think that applies to all of us here, Naruto," Sasuke chuckled, throwing a pebble into the sea.

"Yeah!" Sakura added with a bright smile.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at his team's exchange, before looking away and smiling a small smile of his own.

Tazuna, his family, and the locals of Wave were all there to see off Team 7. The Konoha ninjas were ready to set off home.

"Thanks to you, we've completed the bridge!" Tazuna grinned at the shinobi in front of him, shooting them a thumbs-up. "But... this is kind of sad, eh?"

"Don't worry!" Naruto winked. "We'll come to visit!"

Inari sniffled. "You'd better..."

Naruto sniffled. "Inari... you're sad right? It's alright to cry!"

"I'm not going to cry!" The child yelled. "But Naruto, you can cry too!"

The Leaf Genin whipped around. "Fine..."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, inspecting both Naruto's face and Inari's. They were crying buckets. The pinkette rolled her eyes, thinking to herself. Jeez... they're like twins...

"Well... later!" Naruto yelled, not looking back.

"Goodbye, and thank you for everything," Itachi nodded, and followed after his student.

"Yeah, see ya!" Sasuke waved.

The people of Wave shouted goodbye to their benefactors, all waving with excitement in the air.

"That boy..." Tazuna stared at Naruto's back. "That boy changed Inari's heart, and Inari in turn changed the people's hearts."

"We still need to name the bridge!" Tsunami piped up.

"Oh yeah... that." Tazuna grinned, looking into the sky while patting the head of Inari. "I have a perfect name for it..."

"What is it?"

"Heh heh... The Great Naruto Bridge."

"That's a good name..." Tsunami smiled.

"This name is in the hope that this bridge will never crumble... and one day, become a famous bridge whose name is known throughout the world... as well as the boy it's named after."

That was a painfully short chapter, but I just wanted to write this up to conclude the Land of Waves arc. The ending of it was sad but it remains one of my least favorite arcs. I'm thrilled that we've now moved on to the Chunin Exams, something I think I'll enjoy writing. Well, until next time.