Please leave a comment or PM if you have any questions, suggestions, concerns, or just compliments. For the sake of this work, the elemental balance will go earth}lightning}water}fire}wind. Thanks to SmallFountainPen for betaing chapters 57-73. Thanks to SoaringJe for betaing chapters 116-157.


Minato grinned widely as he watched the Daimyo's procession enter Konohagakure. The walls of the buildings were freshly painted, their windows gleaming under the bright blue sky—the bricks they'd laid to form Konoha's main street were done in a nice pattern, even as could be.

Already side streets were full of stalls, of performers.

Streamers and flags hung from everywhere they could be put.

Behind him the faces of every Hokage (his own included) gleamed.

And then, of course, there was the giant crowd of people waiting just outside Konoha—waiting to allow the Daimyo to be the first to enter on the first day of a week of festivities.

("Victory Day" was a bit of a misnomer, for more reasons than one.)

This—

This was exactly the sort of impression Minato wanted to make.

Judging by the Daimyo's face, it was working.

Minato also took note of Shin, standing as if he were part of the Daimyo's retinue.

Smiling the same smile as everyone else.

He looked at the Twelve Guardian Ninja, a dozen shinobi who foreswore their oaths to Konohagakure and their families to serve the Daimyo alone.

He wondered how much the Daimyo, young and foolish as he was, had paid attention to how Shin had very much not done the same.

His smile widened—he very much doubted it.

And then it was time to go welcome the Daimyo himself.

.

Sakura knew many Uchiha had chosen to stay in Uzu.

Ships—many, many ships, to transport the long-term population of Uzu as well as the many young, old, and injured people who had been relocated to Uzu for their own safety—had provided them plenty of opportunity, but as a rule those Uchiha who weren't able to flee to Uzu themselves hadn't come..

There were still a lot of Uchiha.

It had taken work—and the promise and delivery of acid seals for every Uchiha under fifteen to carry—but they were there, they were visible, and Sakura watched in real time as the non-Konohans noticed.

Of course, that wasn't even the largest impact the Uchiha made.

.

Shisui didn't so much walk into the cinema with his mother as pull her behind him, leaning almost parallel to the ground in his rush to see.

He'd heard his cousins talking—marveling at the creation, at images that actually moved—and they were finally at the front of the line, so it was his turn to watch in awe.

"It's not going to start any quicker if we rush," his mother reminded him.

Objectively, Shisui knew that was true; there were plenty of other people streaming to their seats, after all.

On the other hand, those people were streaming around them due to the pace his mother had chosen, so he felt his upset was justified.

He wasn't going to throw a fit, though—he was a big boy.

"C'mon, faster!" He begged.

"Alright, alright," his mother acquiesced.

He grinned, then turned around.

And frowned.

They'd made it to their seats—she'd only promised to go faster because they were already there.

"That was mean, kaa-san."

His mother only grinned.

And then they were seated, and so was everyone else, and the lights dimmed, and the projector behind them hummed, and—

And Shisui's breath was taken away.

It was amazing.

It was perfect.

It—

It was all that he wanted to do.

.

Inoichi held Kohana's hand as they walked around the city.

They'd already gone to a concert put on by some Academy students (surprisingly good), went for a hot air balloon ride (quite fun when it wasn't being used as an escape), played a few carnival games, watched kids on the jungle gyms that now scattered the city, ate some really great street food while listening to a storyteller…

It had been a really great day.

It would be a really great week.

Kohana had only just been medically cleared, and Inoichi had worried that the day would be too much, but she had loved everything, loved the distraction.

(They'd talked. About her being pregnant. About how happy she'd been. About how happy he would've been if he'd found out.

(They'd mourned what could have been, what nearly was.

(They'd talked, and then Inoichi had tracked down his team and asked for a favor.

(The package had arrived that morning.)

"Mind if we go to the top of the Hokage monument? I have something I want you to see."

"Sure… you'll have to give me a piggyback ride though; today's been a lot of walking."

"It would be my pleasure." He swung her up and she laughed, and he smiled, and love welled in his chest.

As they went on the crowds gradually cleared, preferring to stick to the entertainment and food centers; and by the time they were standing above the stone Hokage heads, they were alone.

Inoichi set Kohana down, gestured out to the beautiful sunset which was only just starting.

"Wow, that is beautiful," Kohana said, and when he didn't respond she turned to look at him.

He was already on his knee, ring at the ready.

.

Uchiha Fugaku looked like the sort of man who had never quite figured out smiling and assumed that he was too old to try.

So he wasn't smiling.

There was, however, something smile-like as he looked down at his young son.

Just about the only Uchiha infant in the whole of Konohagakure, Fugaku knew he was using his son as something of a symbol of the Uchiha's trust in the rest of Konohagakure, but—

He did trust them.

He trusted the seals a Yamanaka had created for every Uchiha.

He trusted the balloons large enough to lift a human that a Nara had made, had even modified to be colorful so they could float above the city without freaking anybody out.

He trusted the Shimura boy—only ten—who had held his son, as well as nine others, and refused to let the byoki get near any of them.

He trusted the city's reaction years ago, when Danzo had been caught.

He trusted the city's reaction when, just prior to that, Orochimaru escaped and left behind far too much information on the Uchiha bloodline, about how the Uchiha had been let in.

Being here… being here without his wife, who had died to the byoki… being here with his young son was still terrifying, still anxiety-inducing, but Fugaku wasn't about to let anyone outside of circle of trust know it. He seethed at the thought that the other nations were probing to find Konoha's weaknesses, to figure out what their chances were if they attacked, and he was determined to do his part in making sure they found none.

And so he kept walking with Itachi in his arms, and no matter how many times his heart told him to look to his right, to look at his wife, he continued on.

.

Juro smiled down at his girlfriend. It was Emiko's first time in Konoha, first time seeing where Juro had lived until relatively recently, and he couldn't help but swell with pride as she looked around in awe, as she raved about Akimichi food, as she watched in amazement at the Uchiha fire displays, as she took in all Konoha had to offer.

He doubted this would convince her to move—she was still young, relatively-speaking, and civilians grew up slower than ninja—but that was fine; he liked living in the Capital.

Even if he didn't want to convince her to move, he wanted to show her what Konoha was about, wanted her to like the city that had shaped him.

And so when she smiled, he smiled, and when he laughed, she laughed.

And they both allowed themselves to forget the stress of the war that had dominated Fire for so long.

.

Chiaki had never been handsomer than he was now.

Ayame was probably somewhat biased, but from the look in his eyes he was thinking something very similar about her, and so it was fine.

Maybe they should have, you know, planned this out more.

But when Chiaki found out an officiant was doing marriages for cheap right next to the Nara River—

It felt like serendipity.

They'd both spent the day running around inviting as many people as possible (no time like the present), and now it was evening, and they were surrounded by siblings and friends and teammates and—

He was just so handsome.

Neither of them could keep the smiles off their faces, not even when they said their vows, not even when the officiant declared them married, not even when they kissed.

The smiles messed up the kiss, a bit, but that was fine.

They had plenty of time for more kisses for the rest of their life.

Around them their families cheered, and Ayame—

Ayame was happy.

.

Uchiha Hono couldn't stop blushing.

She knew how much trouble she'd get into if she kept on—Hibiki, a child of both the Uchiha and Yamanaka, was completely blind (and, considering the alternatives, he'd gotten off easy)—but.

He was cute.

She liked when he smiled at her, told her about life at sea.

Made her a bowl out of ice, so her ice cream would stay cold even as they went to watch the fire dancers.

She knew how much trouble she'd get into if she kept on.

She knew the risks of any sort of relationship between two bloodlines—politically and physically.

She kept on anyway.

.

Tsunade and Jiraiya sat side by side. Around day three the rumors that both Wind and Earth merchants had brought news about a plague were confirmed. It hadn't made it to either nation yet—a good thing, because they hadn't been testing folk for illness upon entrance to Konoha—but apparently it was wreaking havoc in the Land of Corn, and spreading fast, so Jiraiya had been sent to grab some samples.

The week of festivities was over now, and Jiraiya was back, and the false clones that lay in front of them had been properly dosed up with the illness, the possible vaccines.

Both of them would be in quarantine until such a vaccine was found (Jiraiya's descriptions of the effect of the virus necessitated that), and so they sat.

Neither knew quite what to say.

Jiraiya cleared his throat. Coughed. "How's your team coming along?"

"Fine." Then, after a moment's pause, "they don't enjoy killing, but who does? They didn't much enjoy the diplomacy either—too boring. Either way, all three are stuck with the latter; kids with diplomatic experience aren't likely to be allowed to do what they want."

Jiraiya smiled.

Remembered their time as a genin team, when both of them had hated diplomacy work too.

It felt like forever ago, but that was the problem with time:

It kept moving.

Jiraiya closed his eyes, taking himself back to those days of immaturity and education and innocence.

He opened them.

"I wonder what Orochimaru's up to."

There was no response.