It All Started With A Smell

Planning To Do

He woke up to pain racking his body. With a groan, he opened his eyes to find his bed empty. There were, however, crutches sitting next to the bed. Slowly, he pulled himself up, supporting himself with the crutches, and making his progress out of the room. Naruto had left the door open, something he was thankful for. Following the voices travelling through the hallway, Shikamaru limped into the lounge room. It was almost overwhelming to have so many people in one room, the smell of sweat, blood, and dust clouding the air.

Making a beeline for the couch, Shikamaru looked around at the faces surrounding him. His parents were obviously there, as was Ino and her parents, and his Uncle Satoru, Dani, Ryota, Airi, and Eiji. The crowd easily moved to let him through, allowing him to take the vacant seat next to Naruto. The woman was still in his shirt, but her legs were covered by a blanket. She moved into his side gently when he put an arm around her shoulders.

"What's going on?" He whispered.

"At the moment we keep getting reports on village, the injured, the damage, stuff like that." Naruto sighed, accepting the tea that Aunt Momiji handed her. "Thanks, Aunty."

"Around three quarters of the village has been destroyed," Aunt Momiji explained as she handed a coffee to Shikamaru. "Most of the estates are fairly alright."

"Hinata just left. Apparently the Hyuga estate has some superficial damage. Choji sent some clan members over to help move the debris. Hinata couldn't get into her house." Naruto sniffed Shikamaru's coffee before shaking her head, her nose wrinkles.

With a soft smile at the girl, he looked around for his large friend. "Where is Choji?"

"Gone to check on Choza and to organise his clan," Shikaku explained. "The Akimichi clan is in charge of organising the rebuilding. But first they have to clean away the rubble. At the moment we are trying to get an accurate number of injured and dead. The death toll is lower than it was during the fight, thanks to Naruto, but there are still some who lost their lives."

"How did you manage to bring people back to life?" Shikamaru asked, looking at the woman in confusion.

"I didn't. Nagato did it." At the frown from a number of people in the room, Naruto elaborated. "Nagato was the real Pain. He did everything because he misinterpreted something Pervy-Sage said. Pervy-Sage asked me once how would I go about bringing the world to peace. Nagato had suffered so much that he couldn't see anything but pain. He believed that when someone caused you pain it just causes more pain and hate until it was a never ending cycle. I showed Nagato that, although he had killed Pervy-Sage, although he had attacked my home, killed Kakashi-Sensei, hurt you, I didn't hate him. I felt sorry for him. I tracked him down to show him that I wasn't going to let what he did rule me. Hell, most of the village has hurt me, mentally, physically, and emotionally. If I don't let them make me hateful, how can one of Pervy-Sage's students affect me?"

"So you showed him that you could do what Nagato failed at?" Inoichi chuckled. "Lord Jiraiya certainly taught you well."

"She's working hard for the Hokage title."

Shikamaru looked over his shoulder, only to flinch at the pain that went through his muscles. Thankfully, Naruto looked at the newcomer for him, smiling at the man.

"Kakashi-Sensei, you're walking around."

"Thanks to you, yes." Kakashi-Sensei walked around the couch, easing Shikamaru's neck muscles. "The civilians have been alerted to the state of the village. They are anxious to come back and help but the problem is that we have nowhere to house them. We are trying to get a head count of the civilians not in clans now, but it will take some time."

"Shit, my building was destroyed." Naruto swore again. "Not counting myself, there are ten families in that building... all well! I guess it's an opportunity to redesign the layouts of the building. The Beltron twins would like their own rooms in apartment five."