Naruto: Ero-ninja

Target: Mikoto Uchiha

Naruto stood over the cemetery plot where D had been buried. It was getting dark, and much as he feared a good portion of the citizens of Paradise City were at each other's throats once more. However, this time things felt much worse although Naruto attributed that feeling to the fact that this time both sides were using D as the excuse to fight each other. After D's murder the woman that had been Megumi had disappeared and since her fabricated history had her portraying a citizen of Fang Country many from Claw were convinced that her fellow countrymen were covering for her.

Therefore, the more people from Fang denied hiding her, the angrier the people of Claw grew. That wasn't to say everyone was falling back into their old habits, the two respective leaders of the Paradise City, Bass and Kanbei, were doing what they could to stem the hostility. However, while the two men had been able to keep their respective countrymen in line, the dust-ups were happening more and more frequently and seemed to be growing larger each time. Having passed through the City on his way to the cemetery he was sure that it was only a matter of days, if not hours, before the city would erupt into a full-scale brawl over the issue. Naruto knew that if that happened it would likely spread out of control as he had little doubt that Iwa had agents in the City to make sure that it happened.

In truth, Naruto found his resolve to continue with his ambition rather shaken by the whole ordeal. He wasn't sure if it was worth the time to continue trying to end the bad blood between the various shinobi villages and countries, if it was so easy to reignite the hostility between them. As what happened to D showed him, he and his lovers were taking a considerable risk since their goals could have them facing off with people directly opposed to them. People, who wouldn't hesitate to kill him or his lovers in order to make their own ambitions a reality.

Naruto felt the pang of betrayal that had been his constant companion since leaving Vegetable Country. He closed his eyes and once more viewed the memory of being stabbed in the stomach before falling to his "death." Looking away from D's headstone, his gaze drifted back to the city to focus on Tatsugorou Tower. The fifty story building which had been built as a symbol of a new era of understanding between the two countries now stood as a mockery with its broken windows from the angry citizens of both sides. Seeing its current state, he couldn't definitively say if it was worth the potential risks that they faced to achieve a peace which appeared to be so fleeting.

Naruto felt disappointed in himself for thinking along such lines, but even though he had faced a similar scenario with Maki, it had been easy to look past it as he had never really felt in danger. Now though he couldn't claim the same in light of the fact that if he had been D, while Naruto was confident he would have survived the attack. He couldn't be sure that he would have seen it coming as he had with Maki. He supposed a part of what had shaken his faith was that D's death reminded him in a very real way that there were enemies out there that could and would strike at him and his lovers from out of nowhere. That they could be in danger just for trying to bring unity the various shinobi villages since there were people that actually preferred the discord as they often reaped the benefits from it. Knowing that next time he might not be so lucky and seeing how easily Paradise City fell back into chaos, Naruto wondered if it wouldn't be best to simply gather up his family and find a quiet spot to live.

Still despite the current shakiness of his resolve to continue, he knew there were bright spots to be had. Haruna for example, had surprised him by offering the Watari a place to live within her borders as well as the right to build a shinobi village. The reason she had given was that all the Watari that had attacked the Flower Village had died in that attack, having likely been killed by Sora as their corpses had also been used in the Reanimation Jutsu that they had used to assualt Vegetable, and as such those that remained couldn't necessarily be punished for their peers' actions. Moreover, she felt that as many of the Flower Shinobi had also shared a status as wandering ninja for a time, they more than anyone would understand the desperate actions shinobi might take in order to find a place they belonged.