Smoke rose from many places throughout the leaf village as the last of the fires were doused. Teams of Ninja searched the village, carrying the wounded to the makeshift command centre, a set of tents in the middle of the village. The Hokage mansion, ninja academy, hospital and any other building large enough to house the forces having been heavily damaged by the assault. The hurriedly erected campsite had been placed on the site of a former block of houses that was now just rubble. Moans and screams floated from under the white canvas as Naruto carried an Anbu towards the tent. He pushed inside and stopped short, the huge tent filled with row upon row of folding cots and almost all of them held an injured Konoha or Suna Shinobi. Medical ninja were dashed between the casualties. After managing to find an empty bed, Naruto looked up to see Sakura and Hinata. Hinata was kneeling next to a bed, green chakra flowing over her hands. She cursed as the green glow wavered and faded. Naruto crossed to her and placed his hands over hers.
"Use my chakra," he told her.
Hinata looked up at him, blushing furiously, then turned back to her patient. Naruto pushed chakra into his hands; he felt it flow into Hinata's hands and her using it to heal the ninja. After the ninja was healed, Hinata mumbled an excuse and vanished. Sakura wiped her face and hands as she came up to Naruto.
"I thought you we going to let Orochimaru destroy Konoha," she said.
"Things change."
The burnt orange of sunset had been replaced by the navy of twilight as Sakura and Naruto finally left the medical tent, Sakura had insisted on checking him out after she caught him. She led him through the menagerie of other tents until they found the mess tent. They both entered and found something to eat.
"We have to ration and prioritise the little resources we have," Sakura scolded Naruto as he looked disappointed at the small portion of food, "patients are first priority."
"Why do I suddenly wish a sound ninja had managed to hit me?" Naruto asked no one in particular.
Sakura shook her head as she left they looked around for somewhere to sit. There were other ninja spread out around the tent, Naruto and Sakura scanned the crowd until they found a group of their friends. Neji, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji and Kiba were gathered around a small fire as they ate. They looked around as Sakura and Naruto joined them.
"Damn, I'm beat," Shikamaru groaned, flexing his shoulders.
"That attack was brutal," Kiba said around a mouthful of food, "even by Orochimaru's standards."
Akamaru barked in agreement from behind Kiba.
"I took down almost two hundred enemies," Lee announced as he appeared, "and I shall do the same again next time they attack or I shall run three hundred laps..."
"Don't you ever get tired?" Naruto interrupted.
"Never! The power of youth gives me all the energy I need!"
"Lee, Shut up and eat," Tenten told him as she sat next to Neji.
The group fell silent as they resumed eating. Sakura finished her food; she saw Naruto was sitting with hunched shoulders as she set down her tray.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked.
"I'm cold," Naruto grumbled.
