The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

89: A Relaxation Excursion

[OP: "There Beneath"--The Oh Hellos]

There was a large farewell party gathered at the edge of Rain Village.

The sun was shining--it had not rained since the party, in fact, and the ground was actually dry!

The dry grass with the sunshine on it made the fields around the village look so much better, and the flowers that had popped up were pretty in the morning light.

Guren, Gozo, and Yukimaru had come out to see them off, as well as Mai, Kyuu and his wife, Kosame, Jakku, and the 4 council members.

Mirai had said they'd likely replace Yumo with Kyuu, since he was sensible and well respected, especially after bringing them all to Rain, but the decision wasn't finalized yet.

"I'm sure we'll visit again soon," Gaara said, "to check on the trade, and send some people here to supervise it as soon as I can. It may take a while to get them to agree, but we'll stay in contact."

"And we'll look forward to that," Mirai said. "We can't thank you enough, Lord Gaara. The world is lucky to have you and your friends in it."

Funny, she didn't know their secret, but the others thought how true that was, from a certain perspective.

"Honestly, the Village even looks brighter now," Naruto said.

"That's just the sun on it, dummy," Sakura said.

"Strictly speaking, though," Hinata spoke to her, "that does literally make it brighter, so Naruto wasn't wrong."

Hinata wasn't usually the type to sass anyone, and Sakura was almost unnerved by it and didn't say any more about Naruto.

"Hey, it went okay," Dabi said, by way of approving it. "At least it wasn't a waste of time. I say we did okay. Three out of four Villages we've actually been to isn't bad, and Cloud might come along in the future, except when I'm far, far away from it, since I wasn't ever that jazzed about going there."

"I really thought you were," Camie said. "Didn't you do a crap ton of research on Cloud?"

"There's not much to find," Dabi said. "That's why I didn't want to go."

"Cloud is hard for even us to know anything about," Ino said. "It's secretive even by our standards. So I'm not surprised you didn't find anything. I'm a little sorry we don't get to go to every Village, but, maybe that was never realistic."

"Well, I'll be heading back to Leaf," Rock Lee said. "I don't really want to go to Sand, and I think I've been away from home long enough, but I'll be sure to tell them how passionately you all have succeeded."

"Can't you leave out the word passion?" Suigetsu looked green.

"Why?" Lee said.

Suigetsu just shook his head.

"I don't like long goodbyes," Temari said impatiently. "We'll be back here soon enough, to make sure everything's going well. All of you make sure you show Neji-san the proper respect while he stays here, or we'll come back and tan your hides. Is there anything else?"

The council looked vaguely amused by her attitude, thankfully.

"I don't suppose there is," Mirai said. "Seiji? Ayashi?"

They shook their head.

"If Rain ever has an opportunity to repay you, we will," Mirai said with a bow. "But take this at least." She handed Gaara a letter with the seal of the Village on it. "I suppose people will have a hard time believing you survived your stay here. If they would believe that, I don't know, but it's official documentation of your visits. I had it all processed after you arrived. Maybe it will help. But don't tell them how weak we are."