I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
The Fallen Sand
Naruto was sitting on a pier with Hinata leaning on his shoulder. The sun was setting in front of them and behind them was a cabin in front of an entire forest of Japanese Cherry Blossom trees. Naruto glanced at Hinata and saw a gold band on her right ring finger. He felt pride and joy but wasn't entirely certain why.
He and Hinata stayed like that until well after the sun had set. Eventually she sat up and he turned to look at her. The moment he did, she kissed him. Then he was laying in the tent again. Hinata was laying beside him wrapped in his arms and was still asleep. Naruto smiled and held Hinata tighter.
I swear to you Hinata, Naruto thought. I will never let anything bad happen to you again. I swear on my promise to rescue Sasuke, on my future as Hokage, and on everything else I have that I will protect you and will always be there for you.
Then Naruto whispered something so quietly that even he himself could barely hear it. Hinata's eyes fluttered open and she sat up and turned to look at him. He sat up as well and she tried to think of something to say but couldn't. Then, before either had realized they had moved, they kissed. Hinata sighed and wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and Naruto rested his hands on the small of her back. They stayed like that for a long while, breaking only just long enough to take a breath before continuing. Finally Hinata pulled away and smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Naruto smiled as well and wiped her tears away. He kissed her again then they got up and quickly packed up their stuff before heading back toward the Leaf Village. Both knew that if Hiashi met Hinata before she could get to her room, they were both dead but Hinata assured Naruto that she could make it there before anyone found her.
Naruto waited outside the Main Gate and Hinata snuck into the Hyuga compound from the side then into her room. She quickly got dressed in clothes that hadn't been shredded then grabbed her spare supply of ninja tools then left through the Main Gate and gave Naruto back his stuff. The shinobi standing guard gave Naruto a funny look when they saw who had his stuff but he and Hinata left before they could ask about it.
"So," Hinata said. "To the Hidden Sand Village?"
"As long as there are no more interruptions," Naruto said smiling.
Hinata smiled as well and they continued in silence. Naruto looked up at the sky and thought he saw something shoot through the air in a black blur. He didn't mention it but fell back behind Hinata and sent out clones to set up a perimeter behind them. Then he looked up again and saw another blur this time slightly slower but still too fast to see. The first had gone the way they had come but the other had gone the way they were going.
"Eye's up Hinata," Naruto said.
"Byakugan," Hinata said and began to look around.
After a couple minutes, Naruto saw another blur, this time off in the trees. He saw a clone go after it but the clone didn't disappear so it must not have found anything. They continued and Naruto didn't see anymore blurs. Finally they reached the edge of the desert and stopped. The Sand Village was miraculously on fire despite being made out of sand. There were the blurs of shinobi flashing all around the village and Naruto knew that they needed to hurry. The problem was the puppet that dropped out of the air in front of them.
"Crow?" Naruto asked. "Kankuro?"
Temari landed between Naruto and Crow with her fan drawn.
"Get to the village," Temari said. "The other shinobi need your help. I'll handle Kankuro."
"So he was..." Naruto trailed off and created a clone. "He might come in handy."
Then he and Hinata ran off toward the village but stopped when Black Ant and Salamander appeared. Naruto created a few clones then Sasori's body dropped to the ground and Naruto could see that it was a puppet by the chakra strings attached to his body. Naruto followed the strings until he could see Kankuro standing in the distance. His clothes were shredded and his skin was grey and rotting and a huge chunk was missing from his side.
"Play fetch guys," Naruto said.
His clones all charged at Kankuro but all four puppets blocked the path. Naruto looked back and saw Temari kneeling and holding a cut.
"Hinata," Naruto said. "Help Temari. Probably poison."
Naruto summoned hundreds more clones and the clones charged at Kankuro's puppets. They tore most apart quickly but Kankuro made Sasori shred all of the clones easily then the puppet's head launched into the air and it held up it's hands. Holes opened in the palms and razor sharp triangles with balls attached to the backs shot out at Naruto. Naruto threw Shuriken at the triangles but to no avail. Just then Hinata stepped in front of Naruto and began to use Eight Trigrams Rotation. She knocked all of the triangles out of the air then Naruto grabbed her and leapt into the air just as the balls on the ends of the triangles exploded. Then Hinata spun again and threw Naruto at Kankuro. Kankuro moved Sasori into Naruto's path but Naruto slashed the puppet apart with his swords then landed in a roll and removed Kankuro's head.
"Hinata," Naruto said. "I'm leaving clones, stay safe."
Hinata nodded then went back to healing Temari. Naruto ran to the village and found several shinobi facing twice as many zombies. Naruto jumped over the shinobi and threw kunai into their foreheads killing them.
"Naruto!" Matsuri said.
"Take me to Gaara!" Naruto said drawing his swords.
"Okay," Matsuri said. "This way."
Naruto followed her down a side street and straight into a horde of zombies. Naruto began swinging and decapitated all of the zombies before any of them could realize that he and Matsuri were even there.
"Thanks," Matsuri said. "This way."
She led Naruto through several more streets and past several skirmishes until they reached a large battle. Gaara and several other jounin were using a wide variety of Earth Style jutsu to obliterate several hundred zombies.
"Gaara!" Naruto said.
"Naruto," Gaara said. "What are you doing here?"
"Saving you apparently," Naruto said sending ten clones to thin out the zombies.
"Thank you but we're okay," Gaara said.
"No we're not," Matsuri said. "Our interior defenses are crumbling."
"Interior defenses?" Gaara asked. "We haven't let any through."
"They dug their way up from below," Matsuri said. "Didn't you get the bird?"
"What kind of bird?" Naruto asked suspecting the answer.
"A crow," Matsuri said.
"Itachi!" Naruto shouted. "If you're here anyway, we could use your help!"
"Very good Naruto," Itachi said half forming out of a swarm of crows.
"Akatsuki!" Gaara said.
"I'm here to help," Itachi said.
"Finish these ones so that we can focus on clearing the city," Naruto said. "I'll clear out the ones underneath."
Itachi nodded and disappeared then appeared in full beside them when he released his Genjutsu. Gaara turned and he and his jounin and Matsuri headed back to the village and Naruto followed until they found a hole then dove in.
"This is going to be quick," Itachi said activating his Mangekyo Sharingan. "Amaterasu!"
Black flames sprung to life on all of the zombies heads and Itachi smiled then stood still and tried to decide what he was supposed to do next.
"Itachi," a Naruto clone said walking over. "If you still feel like helping, you could go get Temujin. He's-"
"I know him," Itachi said. "I'm going after him but Sasuke is undoubtedly going to come after me."
"That's fine," Naruto said. "Just make sure that Temujin gets back. Aside from that, your family trouble doesn't concern me if Sasuke can be brought back."
Itachi smiled and a clone landed on his shoulder.
"This is my only real crow," Itachi said. "Hang on to him for me."
The crow flew to Naruto's clone and rested on his shoulder. Then Itachi turned and sprinted away.
Gaara shot a ball of compacted sand down an alley, as he had countless times since reaching the village, and through several zombies heads then it returned to him and he continued. Several other zombies stumbled out of another alley and a jounin dropped off of the roof and decapitated them.
"How close are we?" Gaara asked.
"You've made excellent progress," the jounin said. "The zombies are retreating into their holes."
"No," Gaara said. "They're charging."
"Charging what?" the jounin asked.
Naruto charged at the line of zombies in front of him. The zombies were heading for their holes but the moment Naruto's Giant Rasengan obliterated fifty seven of them, they all turned and rushed at him as those on the surface returned to kill him. He created two clones and the three of them slashed their way into the ranks of the thousands of zombies. They got covered in blood inside of five minutes but they were okay. After another thirty minutes, Naruto finally felt a foot collide with his chest. He landed on his back and the zombies surged again having destroyed his clones.
Naruto stood and charged his swords with his chakra. Then he moved forward and began removing heads while ducking, dodging, and removing any hands that took a swipe at him. After another ten minutes, Naruto was again kicked back but this time, the zombies were stopped from charging when the ground under them loosened and they sank into the ground.
"Sand Burial Prison," Gaara said walking down a tunnel and smirking.
"Thanks," Naruto said. "How'd you do that?"
"I loosen the sand under their feet," Gaara said.
"Cool," Naruto said standing and putting his swords away. "Is it over?"
"I believe so," Gaara said. "Is Temari alive?"
"She was when I left her with Hinata," Naruto said. "Matsuri?"
"She went to help some genin," Gaara said. "I haven't seen her."
Naruto nodded and they headed back to the surface. They split up and began to search for survivors. The civilians had all been evacuated so it was no surprise that there were none anywhere dead or alive. Gaara finally found Matsuri laying a blanket over the last of three corpses.
"I'm sorry," Gaara said.
"I was too slow," Matsuri said turning to him and freezing. "Look out!"
Gaara spun around to see a zombie with a katana moving to stab him. Before it could, Matsuri stepped in front of him. The zombie kept moving but less than a second after Matsuri had stepped in front of Gaara, Naruto appeared and slashed the sword down then spun and removed the zombie's head.
"Sorry to ruin your hero moment," Naruto said. "But I don't like having dead friends. I like it better when they're alive."
"You would give your life to save mine?" Gaara asked. "Why?"
"Because you are the Kazekage," Matsuri said.
"Tell him," Hinata said as she and Temari landed behind Naruto. "Trust me. It's a lot easier once you do."
"Tell me what?" Gaara asked.
"I...love you," Matsuri said.
"And why didn't you tell me before?" Gaara asked.
"You're the Kazekage," Matsuri said. "It isn't proper."
"You're right about that," Gaara said.
"Oh just say it," Naruto said.
Gaara's face turned the color of his hair but he still managed to say, "I-I...l-love y-you t-too."
Matsuri stared at him for a moment then threw her arms around him and kissed him. Naruto smirked and Hinata smiled. After a couple minutes, Matsuri pulled away and smiled.
"Not to interrupt but we have other friends we need to rescue," Naruto said. "Feel like tagging along?"
"Sure," Matsuri said.
"Okay," Gaara said. "Temari, get the survivors to the Hidden Leaf."
Temari nodded then left. Naruto and his new team turned and began to head toward the nearest port village and prayed ther could find a ship that could sail.
THE END
Read and review. I need someone to pair both Shion and Temujin with. I will also take suggestions for the others in the Konoha 11 plus Sai. I will not update again without at least one suggestion for each.