They made their way home in silence that was almost constant.
None of them minded, being too shell-shocked to want anything else.
Sakura didn't dare looking at Sasuke nor Toru with her only working eye. Anytime she did, she would remember the feverish terror she had felt looking at their red eyes while they burned her stump close, and the smell of burned meat, all the while Naruto held her.
She knew they had done what was needed, of course, but she didn't think this was about rationality.
Somehow, they understood as much and didn't push. Her boys had always been respectful.
Unbeknownst to them, similar thoughts were running through all of their minds:
Had they been stronger, could this have been avoided?
Was his refusal to learn killing techniques the reason why Kurenai had died?
Would his older brother have done better? How would he have saved everyone?
What would happen now?
The mission report was long and difficult.
Naruto took it upon himself to do most of it, as he had been less close to Kurenai.
"…And when we arrived at the village, we came straight to you to report, Hokage-sama." He finished.
"…I see." The Fifth sighed. "Thank you, Sarutobi-kun."
He looked at them, sorrow in his expression. "It is always sad to hear of the passing of any Konoha defender. Yūhi Kurenai will be remembered as a hero, who sacrificed her life to give you a chance."
He stood up. "For what it's worth, I'm truly sorry for your loss and what you had to endure. I had hoped that you would have had the chance to grow up in a time without war and such hardships."
"Sarutobi-kun, Haruno-kun. Could you please leave us alone for the time being? Pass by the hospital, we shall speak later." He dismissed them, and they bowed before taking their leave.
Fugaku put his hands on Sasuke and Toru's shoulders. He spoke quietly.
"I'm glad you're here."
Tears were frowned upon in public in the Uchiha clan. He said nothing as they both shook, though, staying with them silently.
Kurenai's funeral was a sad affair.
Naruto stood with Ino and Konohamaru. Sakura was next to them, along with Sasuke and Toru, both in black slacks.
Many shinobi attended, as well as some of her rare civilian friends. Shinobi usually made friends among other ninjas, who understood what their profession entailed exactly.
Naruto noticed Asuma, his face devoid of expression. He had misbuttoned. His beard was sticking out, uncombed and tangled, as was his hair.
He had talked to him earlier, assuring him none of them should feel responsible for what had happened, and this was the reality of their line of work. He had tried to light a cigarette but was trembling too much, and had given up before leaving.
The picture that was displayed was an enlargement of one Maito Gai had insisted Asuma and her take on a sunny day. She was smiling softly at the camera.
"She looked happy", Naruto thought.
The Third and his wife were standing next to Asuma, his eyes closed in sorrow for his son.
They would talk in private later, leaving their son to grieve in peace.
Asuma's brother was notably missing, along with his own wife, away on a mission.
The Fifth held a speech in her honor.
As people were leaving, Naruto noticed a man that looked very much like Toru, talking to a tall figure.
He was pretty noticeable. A face mask covered half his face, and his left eye was shut entirely, bisected by a faded scar. He had a stern looking face, and the only eye that was exposed sized him up so fast Naruto thought he had imagined it.
Konohamaru went home with Biwako.
Sasuke and Toru both disappeared somewhere after the funeral, so Naruto went to eat with Sakura and Ino.
Sakura had some news to share, which she did, trying to keep a strong face, but she was struggling to eat with only one hand. Ino took mercy on her.
"I won't be able to be a ninja anymore." Sakura said, not meeting their eyes.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked. If she had decided that this was not the line of work for her, he would understand and support the decision completely.
"I spoke with Hokage-sama. He was kind about it, but…" She trembled some.
Ino rubbed her back lightly.
"He told me that putting injured genin back on the field was too much of a liability. Especially with the extent of my injuries." She sniffled, pointing at her single eye and arm.
"But… You…" "were going to be a strong kunoichi, Kurenai said so" went unsaid. "What are you planning to do?"
"Civilian school starts in a few months… Maybe." She tried not to look too pessimistic about it. "I guess I could do that, I've always been good at studying."
She shrugged, trying to look casual about it, but failed.
"I've been discharged from the corps. anyway. Hokage-sama said I'd get a pension, so now I just have to figure out what I want from my life, I guess."
Ino was quiet, for once.
"Besides." Sakura continued. "Most people don't really get to retire from being a ninja. Guess I got lucky, haha."
She really didn't look as if she were laughing, Naruto thought.
"Twelve and already a cripple, huh." She said after a pause. "Look at me, no wonder my parents are mad."
"Don't say things like this." Ino said, firmly.
"But that's the truth!" Sakura's voice got louder. "That's why… That's what I am, now." She started sobbing.
Naruto hugged her and she stiffened. Ino joined too and they held her as she broke down.
"You've been injured, but you're more than just this." He said, simply."
"Yeah, plus we all know you're going to adapt in no time. Haruno Sakura-chan won't be stopped by just something like a missing arm or eye!" Ino harrumphed.
"This is… so stupid." Sakura cried-laughed but relaxed in her best friends' embrace.
"Thanks for this. Sorry for ruining your shirt, Ino." Sakura said, embarrassed.
"This old thing? Eh, don't worry about it. It's the kind of thing that belongs more in your wardrobe anyways, big head." She winked.
"Pig." Sakura shot back.
"Billboard."
They walked Sakura back to her parents.
"I don't really want to go back home." She said.
"You can always come to mine." Ino proposed.
"Or mine, if you enjoy having no electricity or running water, I guess." Naruto added.
She laughed. "No thanks. Appreciate the offer, though. I don't think my parents would approve of me staying with a guy, anyways, even if it's you. I think I'll face them."
"Fine by me." He shrugged.
"By the way." She said, not looking at them.
"Yes?"
"I don't think I'm ready to give up on some aspects of being a ninja, yet." She made it a point not to look at their faces. "Do you guys mind sharing a few of the things you're going to learn? Just because I'm going to be a civilian doesn't mean I…"
Naruto understood. Once he had experienced the freedom chakra offered, he had trouble seeing how he would be ready to give it up.
"Sure thing, Sakura-san, I'll bring you a ton of reading material, then." He shot her a thumbs up, then realized she wasn't even looking.
"And I might teach you a few tricks… From time to time. Well, if you're nice anyways." Ino joked.
"Thanks, guys." She finished, voice wobbly.
"I didn't want to ask Sakura too many questions, Naruto. But this mission… it was bad bad, wasn't it?" Ino queried.
Naruto nodded. "Yes."
He saw Ino's face, and knew that while she was curious, she wasn't push for more. Somehow, this is what made him talk.
"I've never been this terrified in my whole life." He said lightly, but feeling a bit tense. "A single man slaughtered ten Jōnin. In a blink, two chūnin were. We never had a chance."
He was talking faster.
"Kurenai-san was strong. Stronger than I think I will ever be. And she could do nothing to him. What kind of monster is that? And we were just here, unable to even make him react. Asai. Mikami. Both dead. Sasuke and Torū were the best of us. They could do nothing. I could do nothing. Sakura got injured. What am I even-"
Ino grabbed his hand.
"I'm sure Biwako-sama talked to you already. It was not your fault."
He stayed silent.
"Reverse the roles. Would you think any differently if I was in your shoes?"
"What do you mean?"
"If Asuma-sensei…" She paused. "If Asuma-sensei had died on a mission, would you think I was responsible?"
"Of course not!" He said vehemently. "What could a genin even-"
She just stared at him, smirking.
"Oh. Yeah, I think I get it." He sighed. "I just… Wish I could have been stronger. Or faster. Maybe if I had a jutsu. Anything. Fuck. I don't know."
"Dad says you can't save everyone." She shrugged. "I think I get what he says, but it's probably very different when it happens."
Yamanaka all studied psychology, of course. And they understood the difference between knowing something on a theoretical basis and experiencing it.
"You're right." He grabbed her hand and she jumped. She didn't look at his face. "Thank you, Ino-chan."
"…Since when is it Ino-chan?"
"Today, I think."
"Pfft."
They reached Ino's clan compound.
"I'll extend the same invitation I did to Sakura-san. If you ever want to sleep at home, I have some very comfortable sleeping mattresses. And a tent, too, actually." He offered graciously, with an exaggerated flourish.
She laughed.
"I'd love to, but daddy would kill you."
"Fair enough."
Naruto resumed his previous routine after spending the first two days moping.
It seemed pretty pointless, and he felt that he was stagnating.
But he did need the money, having spent nearly all of it on his tiny house.
While his clones were doing the busywork and putting the bread on the table, he studied a way to find a solution to his latest problem.
Despite the circumstances, he had taken notice of what the Uzumaki had called his Ground-Eater seal.
He himself had no affinity for earth, so using it the same way was likely not an option.
But he was trying to work something along the same lines.
"Well…" He amended. "It's not really the same at all."
One weird peculiarity about the houses in Konoha was that they lacked foundations.
There was no need for them, since it was easier to just build a rough outline of stone, wood or metal, depending, and then anchor it to the ground itself. It would be just as stable.
And when it came to building them, much quicker too.
The First Hokage had built many of the clan compounds half a century in just a few weeks, by himself.
They were still used to this day.
A good Earth Release user could do something similar with stone.
A single day was enough to raise a house.
Civilians did it slower, but tended to make use of shinobi to keep it all stable as well.
This was the main reason land was the more expensive part, compared to the house itself.
Naruto had a tiny house, sure, but the land itself wasn't much bigger. Grass grew around it, but there was no garden.
What he did have — if only technically — was verticality.
He could build up, sure. But he knew people would likely be on his ass soon. Most buildings in Konoha didn't go too high up, besides the Tower.
Could be accidental, could be on purpose.
He wasn't trying to find out, anyway.
Now… He wasn't exactly a seal master, yet.
The best thing he could manage when trying to reproduce the Ground-Eater was something that dug a slow hole in the dirt as long as he had the chakra for it.
He was crafty enough, so he'd manage. Plus, the house was getting really cramped with five clones in it at all times.
He needed some privacy, even from himself. He snorted at the thought. Weird problem to have.
He beckoned one of his clones to come closer.
"Me?" He asked dumbly.
"I don't care which one, just help me remove some of the dirt." He grumbled, a bit on edge after having spent most of the last days indoors.
He held the homemade Ground-Eater seal against the floor.
He pictured a circular man-hole. The seal activated with a steady drain on his chakra.
The ground was lifted through the seal, until there was a thirty centimeter deep hole in his house. He'd have to hide this. Luckily, he had already gotten electricity set up.
The clone passed the dirt to another, who threw it outside.
Naruto threw him a dirty look, to which he shrugged.
After a bit of deliberation, they figured they would do it the assembly line way.
The original would dig, the clones would carry the dirt around, and two of them would dispose of it in a landfill.
They decided on digging a rectangular room under the house. Two clones were sent to the public library to figure out how to keep the underground room livable.
They got to work.
After three days, they had something decent going on.
Naruto hadn't bothered sending clones to the mission office, electing to work on this first.
Stone was dirt cheap — hah — and some could be gotten for free, too.
They had made a wall of it and cemented it.
The jutsu to hold everything in place were quickly learned and applied.
He felt pretty proud of himself, to be honest.
Except…
"Boss… We don't really want to spend the whole day in a dungeon."
"You're me, technically, so I know this already." He grumbled.
The air smelled well… like being underground. It was a bit dark, too.
He sighed.
He… They'd need to find a solution for this too.
It seemed like whenever he solved a problem, two more arose.
Some fiddling with the seals that were used with surveillance cameras gave him a workable idea.
Applying it to the ceiling of his house as well as the roof of the underground level made it look brighter, like a moving painting of the sky.
It definitely didn't look real, but the clones complained a lot less, so there was that.
Sticking and hiding a long air duct pipe through his whole house was a bit more difficult.
This allowed him to recirculate the air, and mostly prevented the cave smell.
Well, it still smelled of sweat after a while, but since the clones spent the full day there, they didn't really notice.
Probably.
Since nobody had given him shit about his clone trick, he was kind of surprised when the tall man from the funeral knocked on his door.
Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja, was a lean figure. His posture was mostly relaxed, but he somehow commanded attention all the same.
His lone dark gray eye was fixed on him, in a falsely casual manner.
He cut through the chase.
"You're wasting your talents." The man said, simply.
"… I beg your pardon?"
"You've got potential, why not put it to good use?" He asked.
"Is this about the D-ranks?"
"Yes."
"I do need the money, though." He countered.
"Become a full-fledged genin and you'll have access to better opportunities. Even more so when you get promoted, and I know you will."
Naruto sighed. "Thanks, but I want no part of the killing." He bowed politely. "Thanks for the show of faith in my skills, but I'm afraid I will have to refuse."
He was about to close the door.
The man spoke, his voice clear. "You have nightmares at night. You wonder if maybe… if you had been faster. If you had been stronger. If you had picked a different mission. Then maybe things would have been different."
Naruto paused, his face pale.
The man continued. "So you train. Alone, because you feel that this is on you. If there's a next time, you will do everything in your power to help. And maybe taking on missions solo will prevent anyone else from dying."
"…How do you know this?"
"Take a guess."
"You too." Naruto breathed.
"I don't want to waste time talking too much about the past, but I lost my team. And several of my teammates, colleagues and friends." He stared at him. "I know I will lose more. That's why I'm trying to be as strong as I can be. If I can protect just one more person, well that's a start."
"…Why are you here?" Naruto asked, hesitant.
"A former colleague asked me for a favor. Training his little brother and his cousin." Toru's brother, Shisui, then. He had seen them talk at the funeral.
"What does it have to do with me?"
"Well, they're down a member, as you know." Kakashi said flatly.
Naruto's lips were set in a flat line. "Yes."
"I think you could be a nice addition to the team. I'll get all three of you up to speed. If you don't want to kill… that's on you." He shrugged. "Just make sure your decision doesn't hurt anyone on our side."
"…"
"I'll teach you Lightning manipulation. Without wanting to brag, I'm probably better at it than anyone in the village." He thought for a second. "Including the Third, with all due respect."
"…I'll need to think about it."
Kakashi shrugged again, as if to say "Suit yourself."
"But then again, people tend to die around me, so I won't force your hand." He said casually, as if this were just a fact of life.
Then, he left.
Naruto thought about it, forgetting to sleep.
The next day, he requested a formal test.
He blazed through the genin exam.
Three days later, he was officially part of the new Team Six.
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