Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters aside from my OCs.
The Village Hidden in the Leaves was graced with sunlight on this very important day. The presence of Temari from Sunagakure foretold yet another meeting in preparation for the upcoming Chunin Exams. The proctors were easily selected from the best of the best. Nara Shikamaru, Saizo Kai, and Sunagakure's Temari were chosen to overlook each of the three stages of the exams. Discussing the details down to the smallest of parts, the three wandered down the streets of the Leaf Village towards the gate to see their representative from Suna off.
Along the way they spotted a familiar mop of blond hair alongside the pink-haired medical kunoichi. Sakura called out to them with excitement, "Shikamaru! Temari-san! Kai-kun! Look who it is!"
The three to-be examiner turned their attention to the long absent jinchuuriki, "Ah! Naruto!"
"Shikamaru!" Naruto greeted just one of the two, taking a longer time to recognize the second ninja, "AH! You're Kai?! What happened to your hair?"
"This is natural." The Saizo shrugged, his hair had lost what little resemblance it had to Sasuke's style and chose to spike up further due to the static-y nature of his chakra. He didn't mind the change. It was simply a symbol of his mastery over his clan's traditional Lightning Style techniques. He was as proud of his hair as he was of the modified flak jacket with his clan's symbol stitched into the back that he wore as a symbol of his promotion to the jonin-level.
"Did you just come home?" Shikamaru asked, drawing attention away from the jonin's hair and to a more important topic.
"No I came back yesterday."
"Heh. So you got any smarter or are you still deadlast?" Kai snorted, looking the boy over as if he were assessing his strength with just one sweeping look.
"No, he hasn't changed at all." Sakura deadpanned despite the protests from the genin.
"Ahh…" The proctors sweatdropped, "We didn't expect much from him anyways."
Not put off by their discouraging comments, Naruto approached the trio with a sly grin, "So which one of you is the third wheel?"
"It's not like that." Kai snapped.
"You're joking. Why would I go out with such a….?" Temari glanced back and forth between the two leaf shinobi at her side, "Either way, there's a Chunin Exam soon so I've been going back and forth between the villages."
"And as troublesome as it is, Kai and I have been chosen as examiners so we've been told to see off the messenger from the Sand." Shikamaru sighed, "I don't see why Kai couldn't take care of it alone."
"I hate women." The blond jonin snapped, "I wouldn't be caught dead going somewhere with just the two of us. Anyways, what are you planning to do, Naruto?"
"Me?" The jinchuuriki blinked curiously at his fellow blond, "What do you mean?"
"What do you mean what do I mean?" Kai snorted, "You're the only one from our class that hasn't become a chunin yet."
It took only a moment for that blank expression to be wiped off of Naruto's face. His expression twisted into one of horror and he screamed, "EHHH?!"
"Bleh." Sakura stuck her tongue out when he turned to her in confusion, "I'm a chunin."
"Plus, Neji from the class above us, Kori and Kai from our class, Kankuro from the Sand, and Temari here are all jonin." Shikamaru gestured lazily at the proud jonin-level ninjas.
"Huh?!" Naruto screamed, grabbing at his hair in frustration before coming to a curious question, "And Gaara?! What about Gaara?!"
"That's the Kazekage to you." Kai smirked at the bewildered expression and then again when the boy screamed out at the injustice.
Leaving the genin to his misery, the group continued on toward the end of the village where companions were waiting for their promised meeting. The gate guards, Izumo and Kotetsu, glanced up and back down disinterested with the group that often passed by these very gates but opposite to their uninterested reactions, the pair standing just inside the gates reacted with enthusiasm.
"Temari-san!" Tsukara Toshizo called out, his sword-puppet strapped firmly to his back. Over the last two years Toshizo was the one who changed the most appearance wise. He had dyed his short, brown hair a jet black color. A scar ran down his bare left arm from the shoulder down to his elbow. He wore a flak jacket more daringly than any of his teammates displaying his much more developed muscles. His appearance had changed to be the polar opposite of his personality and he couldn't say he didn't like it.
Hyuga Kori did not call out but she waved her arm over her head rather enthusiastically as they approached her. Her slender figure was still about the same as it was two years back with the exception of her much more toned legs. The more obvious change was upon her head. There was no longer enough of the dark blue hair to be pulled into the ponytail that she previously wore. She had requested for the back to be cut short up to the very joint between her skull and spine. Her messy bangs had been left only enough to cover her sealless forehead and frame her pale face if she ever found the need to remove the hitai-ate that covered it anyways.
"Oh. I'm glad the two of you could make it after all." Temari reached into the bag strapped to her lower back and pulled out their gifts, "Kankuro was unwilling to part with it since it was his very first step to learning puppeteering but he finally gave it up saying that you would probably need it more than he did."
Toshizo accepted the scroll that held the Sand's elementary tricks to wielding puppets as weapons, "Thank you so much! Is it really okay for the Sand to give away their secret techniques so easily?"
"The Kazekage pulled some strings." Temari chuckled, handing the second scroll directly to the Hyuga, "And for you, a detailed letter from the Kazekage himself. He wanted me to tell you that he's sorry for the lengthy response."
"Not at all!" Kori smiled warmly and accepted her long-awaited -at least to her- reply to the letter she had sent to the Kazekage a week ago, "In fact I appreciate that he takes time out of his busy schedule to reply at all."
"I can assure you that he takes the time to respond because it's the only hobby he has that can get him away from his work." Temari joked, "I'll be taking my leave now."
Bidding her a safe journey and short term farewell, the members of the former Team Nine gathered themselves to head off to their next meeting place, Hikawa Asahina's house. It was rare for Team Nine to share a day of rest where they were all present in the village and their former mentor was not one to waste the chance to get the newest updates on her students' progress and recent mission details just because she was deemed pregnant and unable to carry out missions herself.
Small talk fell to comfortable silence as each ninja enjoyed the familiar presences that came with this rare gathering. Joy fluttered onto each expression when their knock was answered with the famous copy ninja's welcoming expression and the smell of Asahina's famous beef stew.
Hikawa Asahina was a rounding woman due to her pregnancy and she often stayed in the house with little to no work for her to tend. But looks can be deceiving, for despite the lack of busywork, she was simply on leave from her job as a kunoichi that fiercely protected Konohagakure. Her name was known far and wide as the famous Taiyo (Sun) of Konoha. It was rumored that enemies far and wide fled in fear just at the sight of her flame-colored hair. In the village, she was more commonly known as Kakashi's tsundere lover but that's a story for another time.
She welcomed her talented students from her place in the kitchen, "It's been a while, hasn't it? Sit down! Make yourselves comfortable."
The chorus of gratitude came cheerfully as they made their way to the dining room table, another expression of joy coming into view at the vision that greeted them. Seated at the table were their two foreign companion's, Momochi Yui and Hanzo Aya.
Momochi Yui was a young lady of extraordinary beauty and the years had yet to change that fact. The only change brought about by the years were the change in height and the additional brightness of the crimson red to her eyes and, dare I say, her expressions were just that much more stoic and emotionless. She proudly wore her Konoha forehead protector despite the fact that she was a former Kirigakure ninja.
Hanzo Aya was also virtually unchanged. Her ghostly white hair was still the color of the mist that enshrouded much of her former village, Kirigakure. Her sharp blue eyes and childish attitude made her the complete opposite of the stoic and mature, Yui.
"You guys came!" Aya cheered, jumping out of her seat to greet each of her close friends with a warm embrace, "I haven't seen Kai in forever!"
"I saw you last week!" The blond shoved her away upon contact, "Don't touch me!"
The pale kunoichi pouted, "You're as unfriendly as ever."
"You're just annoying." He snapped.
"Now now." Toshizo, ever the peace-maker, calmed the pair instantly, "Yui-san is the one we haven't seen in a long time."
The member of the Root looked up, her mask had been removed upon entering the familiar home of her previous caretaker and mentor, "It's difficult for me to obtain free time but the same can be said about Kori and Kai."
The Hyuga grinned sheepishly, "I was out of the village for a week."
"Now you tell us." Kai snorted, "Next time, tell us before you leave."
"It's not like you tell us before you leave on long missions." Aya pointed out.
Staving off another fight before it could even begin, Toshizo let out a gasp, "Kori-san, I forgot to ask. Why did you cut your hair?"
Kai elbowed the boy in the gut and despite the claim that he was too violent for no reason, he thought he had a perfectly good reason to do so. He had noticed the Hyuga's hair-cut right away and he had been thinking of a compliment to give her in private but now that his dense chunin companion pointed it out in front of everyone, Kai was in a situation where he had to throw it out to the public or bite down his long-thought compliment forever.
Kori smiled sheepishly once more, "Hinata-sama grew her hair out so I thought I might cut mine."
"It looks good on you." Toshi said in a mannerly way, earning himself another well-placed elbow to the gut.
"It does! It does!" Aya agreed cheerily.
Just moments after they were seated, the mouth-watering main dish hit the table. The teens greedily accepted the servings that were handed to them.
Asahina reached over to hand her lover a bowl as well and then paused, "Kakashi, didn't you say that you were going on a mission with your students today?"
The copy ninja paused, his hand on the bowl. As if he had really forgotten, he gasped unconvincingly, "Oh. I completely forgot. I might as well eat first."
The pregnant woman sighed, "Fine but hurry. You can't keep them waiting. This is their first mission with you in a long while."
"Where are you going?" Kai snorted, "If you're going with Naruto, I bet it's some C ranked place with nothing to ease your boredom."
"Rude." Toshizo scolded him as usual, "Naruto-san is probably much stronger than he was before."
"Oh shut up." The blond snapped his chopsticks at the nagging companion, "If you lecture me about manners one more time-!"
The chunin reached out and lowered his companion's chopsticks, "Don't point those at people. That's rude."
"That's it…" Kai slammed his utensils on the table, "You're picking a fight with me and I want to take this outside!"
"Saizo." Kori said, her tone warning him of the immaturity of his decisions, "Calm down."
Toshizo smiled internally to himself. It had been a while since he discovered that the arrogant and hothead Saizo Kai never did anything against the wishes of their talented female teammate. Toshi was grateful for the presence of the Hyuga because he was certain that he was weaker than Kai in any and all physical aspects.
Taking up his chopsticks once more, Kai feigned indifference, "Whatever. I don't need to beat up every ass that picks a fight with me."
"Hinata-sama will be glad to know that he's returned." Kori commented, nodding in satisfaction at the instant calming of her teammate.
Asahina smiled at her self-regulating group of students. Her heart filled with pride but her smile faded away to make room for a frown when an empty bowl came her way from her lazy and irresponsible lover, "Kakashi! You're late! Stop pigging out and go meet Naruto and Sakura! Those kids are probably waiting for you!"
The copy ninja sighed but decided that it was only right for him to take his leave, "You kids better eat more before Kai inhales it all."
Choruses of thanks and 'see you another day' drowned out any and all of Kai's indignant cries and insults toward the tardy and slow-moving shinobi.
Once the man was out of sight, Asahina took his vacant seat at the table, "Aside from Kai's black hole of a stomach, what important news can you guys share?"
"Ibiki is bullying me!" Aya declared. Ever since she had been invited into the ANBU Torture and Interrogation Division by Morino Ibiki himself, she had convinced herself that the man was an incurable sadist that took pleasure in making her suffer through rigorous training.
"You say that every single time." Kai snapped, "Tell us something new."
As if the air had been let out of her entire body, the former mist kunoichi slumped into her chair, "I have nothing new to report. I'm still in-training and unable to torture any real captives."
"Hah! Your kekkei genkai is good for nothing." Kai snorted, earning himself a kick to his shin from Toshizo sitting across from him.
"Rude." The aspiring puppeteer scolded him.
Cutting in before Kai could start yet another fight, Kori smiled and said quickly, "I'm sure your training is interesting enough to talk about again. Did you say that you've been practicing on shadow clones?"
Aya's kekkei genkai, inherited from her deceased mother, was the power to turn the illusive water vapor into a solid mirror that would reflect the deepest fears in one's heart as a genjutsu powerful enough to shock most ninjas but the drastic special effects were the real pains inflicted by any and all images her mirrors would decide to show but she lacks any ability necessary to control what images a person sees or how much damage is done.
"Like I said! Ibiki is stingy and he won't let me practice on real people until he knows that I won't kill them on accident!" Aya screeched, "It's not fair!"
The blond jonin snorted, "Sounds plenty fair to me."
"Kai-san!" Came the consistent hiss from Toshizo, "Rude."
"It's true."
"Well what about you, Toshi?" Asahina shook her head at the unchanging antics of the two, "How is your puppet control coming along?"
Sparing a long glance in the direction of his weapon and partner, the Puppet Sword, Toshizo sighed, "I can move it and it'll do whatever I want it to but not at a decent speed so I thought I might start again from the fundamentals. Now that Kankuro-san has given me a scroll, I can actually learn something the right way."
"You don't learn things from scrolls." Kai, who had never really studied in his life, was a natural talent that believed in doing rather than listening, "Let's have a training session. I get to kick your ass and you really get to practice."
"Language." The puppeteer chided, "But I agree that training is the best way to learn. Kori-san, are you free at the end of the week?"
The Hyuga blinked, a mouthful of warm soup ran down her throat in a rush as she was suddenly invited into the conversation, "Sure but you sure you want to train with me?"
"I'm sure you would be much kinder about it than Kai-san."
"That's for sure." Asahina agreed with a sigh, "You would learn more from going at it with Kori. I'd offer to help but I don't think you would benefit from sparring with me."
"Feh. When you're done being pregnant, fight me." Kai pointed his utensils at his mentor, "I'll be famous for fucking trashing Konoha's Taiyo."
"And I'll be famous for trashing your rude manner of speech." Toshizo sighed, "Can you be polite for once?"
"Why, you little-?!"
"Anyways!" Kori grinned, turning to Yui, "How have you been? Getting along with your companions in the Root?"
The pale-skinned beauty barely looked up. She didn't have any companions in the Root, in fact, no one in the Root had any companions among themselves. They were simply coworkers. A member of Danzo's personal ANBU squad was not allowed to do such an un-shinobi-like thing such as making friends. Emotions were not permitted.
"I have nothing to report." She replied without giving a decent response.
"You say that every time." Kai rolled his eyes at the repetitive pair of former mist kunoichi, "Find something new to share."
"Is that the way it works in Konoha?" Yui muttered and then determined that she did have something to report after all, "The next time we meet perhaps I can bring someone who often travels on missions with me."
"Oh?" Aya squealed in excitement, "A friend?"
"He would not be happy to be called that."
"It's a boy?!"
"He is."
Kori stored that information away to share with her best friend later on. She could already visualize Kiba's negative reaction to the revelation that Yui had made a male friend among her ANBU coworkers.
"I have something nice to share with all of you too." Asahina grinned as the buzz of excitement died down once more, "I was at the Hokage's office today she was telling me all about how Kai was one of the next Chunin Exam proctors and guess what?"
Kai groaned inaudibly to himself for he knew what was coming next.
"The only reason Kai got the job is because Ibiki refused." Asahina said, smiling at the bought of wild laughter that exploded at the implication.
"Even with Sasuke gone you're always going to be the second choice!" Aya giggled uncontrollably.
"This is why they say that no matter how high you go there's always someone above you." Toshizo chuckled, "No big deal though. It's amazing enough as it is that Kai-san and Shikamaru-san were both given the job."
"Fuck you!"
The remainder of their rare gathering was spent teasing one another.
With the hero's long awaited return, the hands of time have begun to move. Each tick is the soft start towards an inevitable future.
With the ending of the Naruto series I've started up the sequel to my story This is the Life of a Ninja. If you haven't read it and you don't feel like going back to read it that's okay. I'll try to make it so that the important details from that story are included within this one so that anyone who doesn't have the time to go back can still follow along with this one. But if you haven't read the manga you might want to watch out for spoilers throughout this story until you actually do get around to seeing the ending.
Anyways, Naruto is finally over! I've been following Naruto for years and now that it's finally over I don't know what else to do with my life! T_T Just kidding. I have other manga to read too. And there is one final movie! So I'm looking forward to that!