As slowly as people wanted to take things after the incident with Orochimaru and the Riverman, eventually, everyone had to pack up and leave.
Those that had transport tickets pre-booked for journeys out of Konoha were able to leave on schedule, as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
This meant, however fortunately or unfortunately for Naruto and the rest of Konoha, that the Taki and Hakaza clans had to go home.
Naruto had said his goodbyes to Kiine and everyone else at the Tenjou Inn, when he'd gone to pick them up. Kiine had hugged him and promised to write.
"If you don't, I'm gonna flood you with letters, y'know!" Naruto replied, to this. He wished Yuki and Kou the best, as well, and reminded Boss Tensho that, if he ever wished to meet again, that all he had to do was write.
"I'll keep that in mind, Hokage. Thanks," Tensho said. For once, his tone was not unkind.
But upon reaching the transport station, where they waited for their ride out, Nobuhiro wandered off somewhere, and they ended up having to wait for him.
Eventually, it was discovered, he was saying some goodbyes of his own. To his girlfriend.
"You gonna be okay without me, sugar bear?" Kohriza had her hands pressed against Nobuhiro's chest, standing on tip-toe to face him better.
"You worry about yourself, Kohriza," Nobuhiro replied. His face was very pink. "You got a country to run, after all…"
"Well, of course," Kohriza replied, and mock-pouted. "But I'm afraid I'll miss you too much to run it properly."
"Hey, you stop teasing around like that. This is serious." Still, he took one of his enormous hands (that he knew she loved so much) and ran his knuckles against her cheek. "I'll write, I promise."
"You got my address?"
"An' you've got mine, in case I forget. But I won't."
She placed both of her hands on his hand, her lip-glossed smile shining. "I know you won't, you big lug."
"Yeah, yeah, same to you, uh… Miss Kitten."
She squealed with delight at his stumbled attempt of a pet name, and jumped up to kiss him on the nose. "You take care of yourself, muscle bug."
"I will, I will."
Her bracelets crackled in the air as she waved to him, rejoining her bodyguards, who waited for her by their train. He wiggled his fingers back, maybe looking a little foolish, but clearly not caring.
Nobody said anything as he rejoined his own family, and shortly afterward boarded into the car with them. But he noticed Yuki, in the seat across from him, was biting on his lips, as if he were trying to eat his own smile, and Kiine was suspiciously quiet as well.
"All right, Yuki, what the hell is it?" he said.
"…she's really beautiful, brother," Yuki finally blurted.
"More like gorgeous, yeah! How'd you catch a girl like that, Nobu?" Kiine added, with equal fervor.
"…who?" Nobuhiro said.
"Quit playin' dumb." Tensho nudged him, and smirked beneath his mustache. "Out with it, tell us all about your new lady friend already."
And Nobuhiro smiled, shook his head, and began to tell them all about Kohriza.
Yomena also went home, eventually. But she stayed one day later than originally scheduled, because she wanted to have dinner with Naruto. And if she had to personally request the extra time from the soldiers that came to collect her, well, so be it.
(She told herself, and she told them, that it was because she wanted very badly to speak to the spiritually-gifted Murasaki, whom Naruto had gotten to join them for their meal.)
(That was what she told them, yes.)
The meal was quite informal, held in Naruto's own kitchen. Naruto himself was prepared to harness his meager culinary skills for the purpose, and Murasaki had brought with her a bundle of her favorite tea—one of her family's shop's finest—for them all to enjoy with the food. Murasaki and Yomena were beginning to converse quite pleasantly, though Naruto called Yomena to the refrigerator, at one point, to ask her what she wanted to have made.
"I got eggs, I got scallions, I got tofu, I got everything, just for tonight, y'know!" he announced, almost proudly. "Go nuts."
Yomena paused quite thoughtfully. "You wouldn't happen to have… ramen, or any other sort of noodles, of course?"
The side of Naruto's mouth twitched. "Ramen? Why…?"
"I'm… in a bit of a mood for noodles," Yomena replied, a bit sheepishly. "Of course, if you are unprepared-"
"No, no, I'm always up for ramen, y'know! We could head to Ichiraku right now! Murasaki, you wanna go for Ichiraku?"
"We don't… have to go out for my sake, of course," Yomena said, raising a hand in protest. "Really, having dinner here is fine. I don't want you to waste all the food you bought just for my sake…"
"...I wouldn't mind noodles, though." Murasaki was raising her hand, now, though to interject. "Sensei, why don't we all go out and get the ingredients to make them?"
"What, noodles?"
"…yes, it shouldn't be too difficult. Yomena-san, what do you say?" Murasaki smiled blithely to punctuate her sentence.
"…well, if it means you still use the things you bought for my sake, of course…" Yomena replied, her eyes downcast.
(Naruto felt a strange, marshmallow-like embarrassment within her, though it was warm and not unpleasant.)
"Yeah, we'll have a big ol' noodle extravaganza, y'know!" Naruto said. "B'sides, Yomena, I'll be able to use all the leftovers myself. I promise, y'know."
He winked at her, and a flinch-like smile was her reply.
And so, the three of them left together for a nearby convenience store to get their noodles.
They returned to Naruto's house a while later, each holding their own plastic bags, on Naruto's insistence. "So we all know who's who, y'know!"
Even though they were all just generic pre-cooked noodles, it was more for the sake of ceremony and humor than anything.
Naruto, with great flourish and care, poured boiling water into each of their three bowls, and right before the fabled three minutes were up, he added fried tofu to Murasaki's, and eggs and ham and scallions to his and Yomena's. He had asked her if she wanted anything special, but she had asked only that she eat what he ate, so he complied.
Midway through her bowl, however, Murasaki began laughing to herself.
"Yo, what's so funny, Murasaki?" Naruto said.
"…oh, it's just something Shusuke said. He said Yomena-san speaks a lot like you, and his impressions of you two are absolutely ridiculous," Murasaki replied.
"Shusuke? What the heck," Naruto said, laughing. "What does he mean, Murasaki?"
Murasaki tilted her head, as if listening, but then batted her hand in the air and laughed more. "Shusuke, you're speaking too quickly! I can't possibly get this across." She sighed. "Here, here, why don't you speak for yourself?"
She held out a hand away from her, and a few moments later her head drooped slightly, as if she had nodded off.
And then her eyes were very, very open, and she grinned.
"All right! Hey, Sensei! It's me, Shusuke, now."
"Hey, Shusuke! What's up." Naruto waved at him good-naturedly. "So what's this you gotta say 'bout how we talk, y'know?"
"Well, that's just it! Y'know! That's, like, all you say, Sensei. Y'know, y'know, y'know." Shusuke waved Murasaki's hands for extra emphasis with each "y'know." "So your daughter, Sensei, she's just the same! 'xcept with her it's all 'of course.' Just of course, of course, of course, over an' over. It's kinda funny!"
"Man, is that right!" Naruto said, laughing more.
Yomena, however, had turned slightly red. "Do I really… say that a lot?"
"Like all the time, girl! Just like Sensei, an' just as weird!" Shusuke replied.
"Shusuke, hey! Be nice," Naruto said. "You okay there, Yomena?"
"I'm fine," she said, waving him off with a hand. "It's just, I never really noticed that…"
"What, that you say 'of course' a lot?" Naruto said.
"I just thought it was the way I talked, of course," Yomena replied, shrugging slightly. "I never really thought much of it…"
"I don't think I really noticed how I talked either, y'know, 'til I met my mom," Naruto said.
"Your mother…?"
"Yeah. I never got to know her growin' up, but when I was, oh, fifteen, sixteen years old, I got an opportunity to meet her, y'know," Naruto said. "She talked just like me, even though we'd never really met before then! Sayin' 'yeah' at the end of everything like me an' my 'y'know,' y'know." He laughed. "I dunno, maybe she passed it down to me or somethin'!"
"Passed it down… I see, of course…" Yomena had gotten very quiet. "Why were you raised without your mother…? If you don't mind my asking…"
"Huh? Oh, she, uh, she died not long after I was born, y'know…"
"…then how in the world did you come to meet her?" Yomena said. "A near-death experience, or some sort of spiritual reunion?"
"Yeah, actually, somethin' like that!" Naruto's face got very bright. "I had to do this spiritual trial stuff when the War was goin' on so I could be able to work with Kurama better—the nine-tailed fox, y'know."
"Of course." Yomena nodded in clear understanding.
"B'fore she died, see, my mom got some of her soul or her chakra or whatever put into the seal that kept Kurama all tied up in me, y'know. An' when things got dicey, she came out to give me help, and we got to talk, and I got to know her real well!"
"Fascinating," Yomena said, her voice hushed.
"You never told me about any of this stuff, Sensei," Shusuke said, a smirking half-pout on his face. "I call shenanigans."
"It totally happened, okay?" Naruto replied, mockingly indignant. "Ask Kurama, he was there too, y'know!"
"How the heck m'I supposed to do that, Sensei?"
Naruto closed his eyes, frowning some, before returning to him again. "Well, he's sleepin' right now. But he'd back me up, y'know, I swear!"
But before Shusuke could fire back, Yomena said, "Did you enjoy meeting her?"
"Huh, what?"
"Your mother. Even under those circumstances, of course…"
"Well, yeah, of course I enjoyed it," Naruto replied. "I mean, when I was growin' up I always wondered what my folks had been like. And meeting my dad was kind of… weird, so seeing that my mom was totally cool was awesome, y'know."
"You met your father, as well?" Yomena said. "Similar circumstances?"
"Yeah, another layer of the seal…" Naruto said.
"So… what made it 'weird' to you?" Yomena continued.
"Well, I was real angry at him once he made it clear he was my dad, y'know," Naruto said. "Like, he basically abandoned me as a baby an' left me with a monster in my belly at that, so I grew up with people hatin' me for a reason I had no idea about, blah, blah, blah…" He sighed. "I got to punch him, though. That was satisfying."
"I-Is that right, of course…" Yomena said.
"Yeah, I got to yell at him for a bit, but then he… eh, I guess it's not important." Naruto shrugged. "He seemed way less concerned 'bout getting to know me than my mom did; he just wanted me to… I dunno, get my job done and finish what he started. But my mom, though! She, like, took me aside an' sat down with me and asked me about my life, y'know! I appreciated that."
"It sounds like… she was a very kind person," Yomena said.
"Totally." Naruto beamed. "I wish we'd have gotten more time together, y'know. But, hey, what's passed is passed."
"Mm." Yomena kept her eyes to her noodles. "Then, would you want more time with-"
But Shusuke interrupted, speaking far more loudly than her. "Hey, Sensei, so if you met your dad's ghost or whatever, how were you able to punch him? I mean, I'm a ghost, and nobody's ever been able to punch me."
"It wasn't his ghost! I think. It was in some sorta weird mental space, y'know!" Naruto replied. He reached for his chopsticks and waved them around. "I have no idea what it was, don't ask me these questions!"
"You're full of it, Sensei," Shusuke said, grinning like a cat. Naruto made a face back at him, and messily slurped at some noodles. "Well, whatever. I said what I wanted to say, so I'll let Saki-chan come back now."
Naruto chewed, and swallowed. "S'been nice talkin' to you, Shusuke!" he said. "Come back again any time."
"Yeah, okay!" Shusuke said.
Murasaki's head nodded forward sharply, but she caught herself before her chin could fall into her chest, and she blinked a few times, looking fairly startled.
"…so, did he get his point across?" she said, pleasantly.
"Yeah, he did," Naruto said, noodles dangling from his lips.
"…splendid." Murasaki smiled and returned to her meal.
Yomena ate as well, chewing on her thoughts as much as her food.
She and Murasaki talked further as their bowls emptied; Yomena mostly asked her about the logistics of her channeling, of the origins of her abilities, and what it felt like to do what she did. All the while, Naruto listened, even after he'd finished eating, propping his chin up on one hand and smiling.
And eventually, Murasaki had to go home. She left Yomena with her address, but not her phone number. "…I'm not terribly good with telephones…" she explained, with Yomena was fine with, and she returned the favor and promised to keep in touch.
Yomena offered to help Naruto clean up, after that, and though Naruto protested, she eventually got him to wash the dishes so long as she could dry them.
They didn't talk much. Naruto asked, at one point, "So, did you enjoy meeting Murasaki?"
"It was… very nice, of course," Yomena replied.
"Ah, that's great, y'know!" Naruto returned to scrubbing out the kettle.
"…I'm, um… glad that I got to spend time with… you too, of course…"
Naruto looked sideways. "Huh, what?"
"I realize… that you really wanted to spend time with me while I was here, this year, and… well, I'm sorry it took so long for me to realize that, of course. If you'll forgive me." Her head bent lower as she dried her bowl.
"You don't… have to apologize for anything, Yomena," Naruto said. "We've had… I dunno, difficulties, I guess?"
"It's my fault, truly," Yomena said. "I misjudged you. And I should apologize for that, of course."
Naruto put down the scrub-brush, keeping a hand on the kettle. "Misjudged me, huh."
"It's like when you met your parents, I suppose," Yomena said. "My expectation was that you only had interests of business at heart, like… how you said your father was—that's, um, how things are where I come from, anyways… I suspected ill of you when you tried to… reach out to me, of course."
She still wasn't looking at him.
"But I realize now you were being genuine. And I apologize."
She only inhaled slightly when Naruto reached over and put an arm around her shoulder, and squeezed. "Again, y'don't need to apologize, okay? I understand."
She smiled slightly. "I believe you."
He let go of her and returned to the dishes. "I'm really glad you feel this way, though, Yomena. It makes me real happy, y'know? I mean, the last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable an' stuff."
"Mm." She finished drying the bowl, and set it aside. "Personally… I'm glad that I didn't have to wait until you were dead and I was in danger to understand you better." She paused. "That… didn't make any sense, did it…"
Naruto, however, laughed, and gave her another side-squeeze hug. "I got what you meant. And hey, I'm glad too, y'know? Especially about the whole dying part. It'd really suck if I died without getting to know my own kid."
"You feel you've gotten to know me?" Yomena said.
"Yeah, maybe a little bit! Though I'd love to get to know you more, in the future." He winked. "Think that'd be okay?"
"Only if… you allow me to do the same, of course," Yomena replied.
"Then it's a deal." Naruto nodded once, strongly, and handed her the washed kettle.
"A deal it is," she replied, and began drying it.
They each went to bed after that, once the job was done, saying goodnight to each other.
(Though neither of them went to sleep right away.)
(Both of them lay on top of their sheets, staring at the ceiling, thinking, and smiling often.)
In the morning—her luggage was already packed—Naruto took her to the transport station, though only after offering to make her tea before they left. She refused, though only because she knew how early it was, and she didn't want him putting in effort for something he himself wouldn't use later.
"Besides, I know you'll be heading back to bed for at least a little while after this, of course," Yomena added, tilting her head sideways.
"Now where'd you get that idea, y'know?" Naruto asked, his eyebrows rising.
"…well, on mornings when I have to wake up earlier than usual for just one thing, I almost always return to bed once it's done. I thought perhaps you… did the same, or something similar…" Her expression got pink and flustered. "I'm sorry, pardon me for assuming."
Naruto, however, yawned, laughing towards the end of it. "That's exactly it. Seriously, getting up at five for a train is stupid, y'know. I'm goin' right back to bed once I see you off. An' you're gonna fall asleep on the train, aren't you?"
"…probably, yes," Yomena replied, smiling slightly, and then yawning herself.
There was mist on the ground as they made their way out. The sky was the color of milk, and only a few birds were singing. Yomena met up with the soldiers assigned to her care, and spoke with them a while, apart from Naruto, holding up her hand to him so he wouldn't leave just yet—"Wait a moment."
After handing her bag to them, she returned to him, her arms held in front of her. "Well, then… Thank you greatly for your hospitality." She bowed.
"Thank you for being such a great guest," Naruto replied, bowing in reply.
Yomena shuffled her feet, her eyes wandering across the ground. Her mouth opened for words that were not yet chosen.
And then: "I… look forward to my next stay with you, Naruto-san…"
Naruto blinked a few times, taken aback; he wondered if she had ever called him by his name before. "Y-you do, huh?"
"Yes."
And then she stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around his, pressing her hands against his back.
She was hugging him.
And Naruto, pausing only a moment with his mouth open, hugged her back. Her body was warm to the touch, and he smelled her incense in her hair.
(Ruby-colored affection, fragile and new, he felt also, and that closed his eyes and closed his mouth in a smile.)
Yomena pulled away shortly afterward, adjusting her jacket and clearing her throat. "Well, then, until next time," she said.
"'Til next time," Naruto replied, nodding. "You take care, Yomena."
"You as well, Naruto-san."
He waved at her as she boarded the transport, and stayed on the platform until he could no longer see her.
Then, yawning mightily, he went back to bed, feeling immensely satisfied.
(And Yomena nestled against her bag in her compartment, smiling slightly, the feeling mutual.)
This was the last goodbye Naruto would have to make for a while yet. After all, he had decided with his council—in the days well before this—that Karin would remain in Konoha until she, Ooda, and Suigetsu were all fit to travel, which "could take a while."
(Which was something of a euphemism for "Karin's welcome here until she needs to get back to her clinic, basically.")
Nobody had a problem with this, considering Karin's openness about everything, and the fact that the Kages—who had all since gone home—already willingly believed another story.
Gaara had spread to the other Kages, without any prompting, the story of Ooda, and how he was evidence of a cloning experiment abandoned by Orochimaru for some reason or another—death, war, disinterest, what have you. After all, Orochimaru had a long history of unfinished projects, and there was nothing to contradict the claim that Ooda had been left with Karin to be raised, and forgotten about until Orochimaru's own return, years later.
Rotsuki and Kohriza took to the story readily, with interest and sympathy, though Mei (uncomfortably) expressed visible disappointment at the fact that the cloning process itself was still a mystery, and was likely to stay that way.
"Such a shame we don't have more than just that boy for evidence," she commented, in hearing the news. "The things cloning could do for my country."
"You're doing more than enough already, Mei-san," Rotsuki replied. Mei didn't seem to notice the sarcasm.
And speaking of Karin, though it was obvious she wasn't going to be making any more children, what would become of her notes and research?
"I'm gonna have them transferred to Sakura, and she'll get them archived, locked up and under Konoha's protection," Karin explained to Naruto, once he asked. "I'm not gonna destroy them, okay, that's just stupid. But I trust you and your government enough to not use them."
"Sounds great! You want me to bring that up to the council?"
"Sakura already did, actually. All it needs now is your approval."
"Well, then, there you go! I'll make sure to get that taken care of, y'know." Naruto had to pause, there, because he was feeding Osato during this conversation, and Osato had started to fuss, writhing away from the nipple of the bottle. "Whoa, whoa, buddy, c'mon, you can't be done yet! Finish your lunch, y'know." Naruto coaxed the bottle back into his mouth, where he began to suck again. "There we go."
The other matter to be settled that particular day, it turned out, was that of letters.
With the amount of traffic subsiding and the fan mail sorted between those addressed to Hashiki and those to Ooda, Andou had the stacks—bundled neatly with twine—delivered to their proper places.
For Karin's family, reading these letters was the perfect pastime to celebrate her moving back down to her old room, and Suigetsu leaving the therapy pool to join them. At Shingetsu's request, and with Ooda's permission, the stack of letters was divided up between Karin and the boys to be read—the particularly good ones were often read aloud or summarized. Of course, Ooda would read them all himself later, but this celebration of his actions seemed like an excellent way to go about it together.
The "good ones" ended up being almost exclusively love letters to Ooda, which got him quite flustered and frequently asking his mother not to read them aloud.
But the best one, undeniably, was a letter written in pencil on a piece of hotel stationary, misspellings dancing through the text. Ooda read it first, and squinted to make sure he wasn't mistaken, before getting his mother's attention.
"What is it, another love letter?" Karin said, smirking.
"No, Mom. Look who it's from."
And Karin read it, and began laughing explosively after a few lines.
"Mommy, what is it, what is it?" Shingetsu said.
"It's a letter from Fuzan," Karin said.
"Fuza-niki? He sent a letter?" Shingetsu said. "Why?"
"Here, let me read it, okay," Karin said, and cleared her throat, trying not to let her smile get in the way of her words.
This was Fuzan's letter:
Dear Ooda-san,
I'm not a citisen of Konoha, I'm from the Land of Lightning, but I wanted to write to you to thank you for being so brave and standing up to Orochimaru like you did! Standing up to a guy like that takes serius guts. I totally admiur brave people like you!
This is espeshally true I guess becos I read about how your actualy a clone of Orochimaru to begin with. Do you read Mayonaka Terebii? Its a really good series, if you haven't heard of it. When I read about you, I was like, its exakly the same thing! You steping up and doing the right thing in order to defeat the bad guy that made you... Your like a real life super hero! You should get an award from the Hokage if you haven't allready.
Being a clone must be super cool but also super stressfull, I bet. Do you ever feel pressure to outperform Orochimaru, or what? I know you allready are a good guy, so thats obvysly not a problem. If I were in your pozishun I'd just probly try to be a good guy like you and be nice to evryone, and not try to aspyre to be too much like my ansestor or whatever. That seems like way too much pressure, especially if we are dealing with badass's like Orochimaru and stuff. Being a badass and a good guy at the same time is way too hard for even guys in comic books. That's just my upinion, anyways.
I hope you keep on being a good guy! I will be cheering for you anyways.
Yours sinserely,
- Fuzan
PS
Can you please write back so I can have your ottograph?
Extra PS
Fuzan broke his arm resently so I had to write this for him. Don't blame him for any spelling misstakes.
- his girlfriend BB
"That little nut." Suigetsu, who was holding Osato throughout this whole affair, was laughing. "Of course he'd send a letter."
"Ooda, you have to write back to him." Karin handed the letter back to him.
"…are you sure?" Ooda replied.
"All you need to do is thank him for his letter and make sure you make your signature nice and big for him, okay," Karin said. "You don't have to mention anything else."
Ooda smiled, looking again at the letter from a boy he somewhat considered a younger brother. "All right. I'll make it a good one."
Though this wasn't the last time unexpected connections would arise between Karin's children.
The very next day, a woman came by Karin's room, and she had a proposition that would change everything.
(Though speaking of unexpected connections, for some reason, Sakura's husband came by with a large basket full of cookies and fruit for Ooda and his family the afternoon of the letter-reading, insisting on giving Ooda a hug and speaking at length about Ooda's extraordinary character and good deeds.)
(When Suigetsu finally got him to explain why he'd come by in the first place, Lee explained that, due to his experiences in the past, he had a moral obligation to check on the child of Orochimaru, and congratulate him for turning out to be such a fine young man.)
(Baffling as his explanation was, Ooda felt strangely invigorated after the encounter. And Lee's cookies were delicious, besides.)