Secret Clan: A Ninjas Journey

Epilogue

Shortly after Naruto and Sasukes fight:

Isobu slowly looked for her former hosts body, trying to be careful not to step on any of the ninja alliance or the dead bodies. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Gaara blast past her on his sand and land a few hundred feet infront of her.

His hands shook as he slowly lifted up Hankuro's dead body and cupped him to his chest, tears running down his cheeks. "I'm so sorry my friend...i...I had to save Naruto. There was nothing I could do to help you. There...there wasn't another source of Isobu's chakra to implant inside you or I would have grabbed you too. Hankuro..i.." He softly sobbed as he held the other into himself, shaking his head as the rest of the Sand Village started to arrive with Isobu in tow. Gaara felt a hand touch his shoulder as Temari got down to his level and slowly rubbed the back of Gaara's head.

"Shh. Little brother you don't have to do this alone. We're all here. And we all realize the sacrifice he made. Look." She pointed to Isobu who had lowered her head in respect and slowly the rest of the surviving Sand Village did as well. "We didn't always treat him right...but in the end he was Sand Nin. Through and through. And we will all honor him as such." She nodded to Kankuro who summoned a puppet scorpion and gently took Hankuro from Gaara and place him on there back.

"You know Blue...i never did treat you right." He gently took his hand in his own as they all started walking. "...its because I was always jealous of you. In some twisted way I saw all the time my father spent with you as him caring for you more then me. And how my brother saw you as a friend before me...when you were gone for those 3 years it felt great. Or I convinced myself it was. But I could see the pain in Gaara and Temari's eyes every day. You were are brother in the end...you stood side by side with our Kazekage and you defended the Alliance til the bitter end. You have my respect Hankuro..i hope your afterlife is good my friend. I hope you meet all the people that have been waiting for you." Kankuro wiped the tear from his face and kept walking as the Village and Isobu followed.

As they started heading back to there Village Naruto and Hinata stopped them and smiled. "H-Hey. I know you don't have to but...Hinata and I were wondering if we could pay our respects to Hankuro before you take him home and have a proper funeral. We totally understand if you'd rather us wait til the funeral though." Gaara looked at Naruto's missing arm and then back to his face and slowly to Hinata's face that was clearly holding back tears. He nodded as the rest of the Village continued walking, carrying the rest of there dead. Shukaku slowly approached Isobu and nodded as they both followed the villagers. Naruto looked to Hinata and motioned for her first.

Hinata slowly placed her hand on top of Hankuro's as tears dripped down her cheeks and onto his. "H-Hankuro-kun...Im sorry I or we...that is.." Her lip quivered as she shook her head. "I didn't expect...to lose two of the closest people to me at one time. I...we loved you Hankuro. And we just really hope that your afterlife is peaceful and that...that one day we can all meet up again and share stories together." She knelt down and softly kissed his forehead and whipped her tears from his face and gently cupped his cheek. "Goodnight...my little blue turtle.." She turned to Naruto and gently rubbed his arm before walking towards her father and they took Neji away.

Naruto's lower lip quivered as he looked up from his body and gripped his hand. "You know...when I first met you I knew we would be friends right? I felt your pain and we saw each other's in those moments we connected. I can't feel you now...if I could have i would have saved you like bushier brow sensei. You were like a brother to me...no. You were my brother." He looked down to him and felt his tears roll down onto the others cheek. "Ah man. This is so not cool. Im crying on you bro..." He knelt down and whipped his tears off the other. "Sleep well Blue...we'll meet again one day."

15 years later:

"Father...i have been meaning to ask. I know we aren't like the Leaf with a statue of all the old Kages." Shinki looked to Gaara and pointed to a solitary statue in there garden. "But you never explained to me who that is? Was he important to our village?"

Gaara walked forward and smiled, taking a deep breath. "You're right Shinki. Come with me and I'll show you." He gently took his sons hand and opened to door to there garden and knelt down. "Read to me what that says on the plate first."

"Here lies Kizamaye Hankuro. Ninja rank Jonnin. Beloved brother, Incredible Ninja, Unnamed 6th Kazekage." He turned to his father. "He was that strong? The village recognizes him as the 6th Kazekage?"

He lightly chuckled. "Hankuro was a special person to me. He was like a brother and one of my first friends I ever had. He fought in the Ninja War even though he knew the chance of him losing his life was higher than most of the Alliance. He was the last person to ever host Isobu as a Jinchuruki. You see when a Jinchuruki has there tailed beast removed they cannot survive without it inside them. And he knew the war was over those creatures, but he joined us because that the type of person he was. That's where your middle name comes from Shinki. My friend who gave his life to help protect the ninja world."

"Wow...and...well its in your private garden then. Does that mean that only your family can visit him then?"

"Actually today's the special day we honor him. It's his birthday today, he would be 32 today. We honor him by reliving our memories with him. The good, the bad, and the best ones. I wouldn't mind you joining us all today if you'd like to son." A knock on the door shortly before people started coming in. "Ah our guests." Temari, Shikamaru, Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Sasuke and Kankuro walked in smiling and holding up bags to make dinner and Sake bottles as there children stood at the entrance smiling. "Why don't you go show the kids your room while we all get dinner started? Would you mind doing that son?"

Shinki nodded as he introduced himself to the other kids and they ran upstairs. The adults smiled and hugged and Hinata walked towards the kitchen and began washing the vegetables. She smiled and chuckled at all the boys talking about stories and looked out the window and did a double-take as she saw Hankuro's ghost sitting on top of his statue. "H...Han...Hankuro-kun?" She dropped the glass in her hand into the sink which caused everyone to look out the window and become stunned.

"Hi guys..." He phased through the door and floated before landing on the ground, his ghost self hadn't aged a day since the last time they saw him. "I'm just here to say... I love you all and appreciate you honoring me on my birthday every year. I've watched you all grow up...and Naruto. I'm so proud that you're the Hokage now. You're all more amazing then I ever could have imagined." The group was shocked and in tears as they heard him speak to them. "Don't worry about me though. Tayuya was on the other side waiting for me...and so was my mother. Again I love you guys and I can't believe how amazing you all tu-"

Himawari froze at the bottom step as she saw his spirit. "U-Uncle Hankuro?" He simply nodded as he got down to a knee and held out his arms. "Uncle!!! I haven't seen you in so long I thought you were gone gone!!!" She ran into his arms and cried as he was able to hold her close and stroke his hair. "I love uncle Hankuro!"

"I love you to my little Uzamaki princess." He closed his eyes as his body started to glow. "I have to go...but Uncle Hankuro and Uncle Neji are always looking after you, okay?" She nodded slowly as he looked to everyone and waved. "See you around guys. And I'm definitely gonna be expecting stories.." His chuckle echoed for a moment and then he was gone.