𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐇𝐘𝐔𝐆𝐀 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐍

The Aftermath

Hanara had calmed down by the time Pho had flown to the Hidden Leaf Village and had apologized to her. Hanara knew that she didn't deserve to have Hanara's anger taken out on her.

"Please land over here, Pho," Hanara said once they were over the crumbled wall. The village was in chaos, but it seemed like the fighting was over.

Pho complied and Hanara jumped off her, "You may go now."

"Right!" Pho nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

'I need to find my team,' Hanara thought, 'They were all in the stadium, I think.'

Hanara ran in the direction of the stadium, Byakugan on, and found that every ninja and civilian she passed were in varying states of mourning. 'The Sound and Sand aren't strong enough to kill or injure a family member of everyone in the village! What happened?' she sped up, 'Ino should know. She's the first to know all the gossip.'

When Hanara ran past the Academy, she saw Ino and Choji, who were crying.

'Ino! Choji! What happened?" she asked, running up towards them.

"I-It's Lord Hokage!" Ino sobbed, "H-He's DEAD!"

Hanara's eyes widened, "No... he can't be!"

And boy was she shocked because she forgot such an important thing. Or did she even know that at all? 'It's like I've got freaky bits and pieces of the future that just make me feel anxious about everything I do. I kind of wish I didn't remember anymore, remembering pieces is worse than not remembering at all.'

"Orochimaru used the invasion to kill him," Choji mumbled, "And we don't know where Shikamaru is."

"I- I'm sure he's okay..." Hanara said weakly.

"Y-Yeah, he's Shikamaru. The s-smartest person we know," Ino added, "He p-probably left with Asuma-Sensei or something."

"Y-Yeah," Choji nodded.

Later on, they found out that Shikamaru and the rest of the Rookie 9 were perfectly fine (after a few hospital visits, of course). It was a huge relief to Team 10 but they didn't let each other out of their sight for a few days. The Hidden Leaf Village was in shambles after the death of their Hokage and the destruction of the majority of said village, but that didn't stop them from holding an organized memorial to honour the sacrifices made in what became known as The Invasion.

The memorial was held on top of the Hokage Tower for all those that had died that day, but the only one that Hanara knew at all was Lord Hokage. It was raining quite heavily too as if even the heavens were weeping for the loss of all those gone. Although it was clear that everyone at the service was sad, only the civilians were openly sobbing. Ninja were expected to seem strong even at funerals because an enemy would use any moment of weakness to attack, any shinobi worth their salt would know that.

Civilians and many Academy students were blissfully ignorant of that fact, however, and were expressing their sadness openly. Hanara closed her eyes and sighed. This was the first memorial service she had been to since Hizashi's and it had been raining then as well. She knew first-hand that being the family of the one that had passed was a horrid experience. Konohamaru had her condolences.

While the memorial brought sadness to everyone there, it also gave them a sense of happiness. It brought all the good memories that people had made with the ones that they were remembering. All in all, the memorial ceremony left Hanara with a bittersweet feeling.

For the next few weeks, Hanara was alternating between continuing to learn a new Water Style jutsu (Water Wall) during team training on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and helping rebuild the village on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.