the storm bringer | ✓

Chapter Thirty-Two ~ Deal? Deal.

~Chapter Thirty-Two~

Winter's head rested in the crook of Naruto's as the two hugged, her tears slipping down her face and dripping onto his slightly sun-kissed skin. Kakashi had walked off to 'take care' of Misaki and Hakuei, meaning that the two were no longer breathing.

Night had started to creep over the already dark place as Kakashi returned, all of his Genin looking exhausted either physically, mentally or a mix of both. "We'll need to camp out here." He says looking around the spooky place. Winter sniffs and slowly pulls away from Naruto, drying her tears. "I know a place we can stay..."

She starts to limp away and Naruto quickly catches up, guilt eating away at him for what he said when Misaki had him under her control. He takes her hand and slings her arm across his shoulders so she could put some of her weight on him. She blinks in surprise but doesn't protest, she felt dead tired.

They saw it before they heard and felt it, the four ninja's eyes widening and their jaws dropping as they took in a towering dome that was made out of a raw storm. Lighting would light up the gray clouds and the wind blew against them gently. Winter continued to walk forward making them grow increasingly nervous.

"It's alright, this is a jutsu made for protection." She murmurs lifting up her tanktop to reveal her silver tattoo that had grown brighter. It seemed to twist and shimmer as she grew closer, the part of the storm barrier giving way to let them through. They stuck close to the black haired girl, each feeling some degree of nerves as the storm closed behind them leaving them trapped in the middle of the barrier.

Yet not once did they get struck with lightning or damp with rain, the storm not wanting to harm them. They saw light up ahead and broke free of the barrier, discovering something that puzzled them. Winter takes her arm off Naruto's shoulder, spreading her arms out.

"Welcome to my old home, the Village Hidden within the Storm."

It was a huge valley, buildings and houses seen in the distant. Some where destroyed while others looked fine. A couple looked as if they were being slowly rebuilt and the rubble was cleared off to the sides. It was obvious something had happened here.

"Follow me." They trudged down cobblestone pathways, no wind blowing over them for the first time in a while. A sign was broken in half and dangled, the kanji showing that this was indeed the Storm village many powerful ninja had heard about but never found. Not a single living soul seemed to be there, it felt as if they were intruding on something sacred.

Winter comes to a stop in front of a house near the middle, on that looked as if it had been rebuilt in the past year or so. "We can stay here." She pushes open the door slowly and enters, the others following. "Um I'm afraid I haven't had the time or money to buy new furinate for this place yet so we're going to have to make do with what we can find."

"Is this your house?" Sakura asks somewhat timidly making Winter shrug her shoulders. "Technically I own the entire village right now, so yeah I suppose it is." They all blink in shock staring at the girl who sits down on the dusty couch. "I'm the last Ookami and we established this place, protected the land, etcetera. So in a way this valley, oh and the mountain, is mine to use however I see fit as long as I protect Arashi Peak which once again, only an Ookami can find."

"So are you the person rebuilding all the houses then?" Kakashi asks leaning against a wall. She nods, "It's my dream to one day reestablish the Storm Village. But then again it is a dream, so it probably won't come true."

Naruto sits down next to her, "Yes it will! Dreams are very important and you try to do your best Winter! And once this place is rebuilt and people live here again, I'll be Hokage. So then we can form an alliance, a Leaf in a Storm is bound to get somewhere right?" He smiles widely at her shocked face and she slowly smiles back as he holds out her hand.

"I bet it could get really far. You have yourself a deal... future Hokage."

Little did the ninja in that broken house know that this deal made between a grinning blonde and a stoic black haired girl was going to one day go down in history. Quite ironic seeing how history seemed to repeat itself around these young people.

***

Kakashi Hatake had heard of Storm Village and had even met a Storm Shinobi in his lifetime, but he'd never seen the actual village. In fact the only Leaf ninja to step foot in this village before today was the Hokage himself. So naturally he snuck out and walked around at night, the top of the storm dome hundreds of feet in the air above him. Lighting flashing would give him the light needed to walk around, examining the desolate place.

He expected it to be empty, after all the massacre of the Storm and Shadow villages was still relatively recent and common knowledge among Chunin, Jonin and ANBU ranked ninja. Still when he walked over a hill and saw what was on the other side he paused.

Row upon row of graves stood down below him, names carefully carved into each headstone. Behind that was a KIA stone, something that was filled to the brink with names. He slowly walked down looking at the dates on the ninety headstones. The birthdates varied and yet each one died on the same day... all these people were killed on the massacre night. Except for one.

He crouches down in front of a obsidian gravestone.

Here lies the soul of Aiden Ookami

The best big brother someone could ever hope for, and the bravest shinboi the world will ever see.

He died two weeks after the massacre. His gaze shifted to the one next to it and he paused, frowning at the writing and confusion striking him.

This is the place Yuki Ookami rests, her spirit now shattered.

May I find peace wandering this world until my body dies or my soul is stitched back together.

Funish Fact: When I was first writing this story I was planning on having Winter sacrifice herself to save Team 7 in this arc I made up [so when she was being mind controlled] but then I was like 'nah I like Winter so I'm gonna have Naruto save her'.

Also sorry for the short chapter but at least its not super sad...