Saviour of the Uchiha ✔

The Calm Before The Storm

I walked slowly back to the clearing in which I had left Naruto. I found him sitting exactly where I left him, slumped over. I walked over, and he didn't seem to notice I was there.

'Hey,' I said. He immediately perked up, looks like he had been snoozing. Any sane ninja would've found a safer spot to rest, even when dead tired. That just proves my theory that Naruto is crack, or just extremely dumb.

No, transforming into the Nine-Tailed Beast is no excuse for not being safe.

'You're safe!' Naruto yelled, and staggered to his feet. 'None of that,' I warned, helping him sit down again, alarmed with his wobbling legs even with my healing and time to recover.

Thankfully Kakashi saved the day.

He appeared out of the trees, his headband pulled above his Sharingan eye, meaning he had seen some battles. He looked okay, just a little banged up. I hoped that like him, my other friends and sensei's weren't injured too. 

'Hana? You're back? What are you doing here?'

I just smiled at him, even though I was sure he could make out that it was fake. 'I'm back and I'm not going anywhere. I'm sorry I left, but you can ask me whatever you want later. Right now, Naruto needs to be escorted back to the village.' He nodded.

'Come on, Naruto. The village is buzzing to see the hero who saved them.' I grinned at Kakashi's words, I had no doubt that Naruto had defeated most of the Pains, if not all. As Kakashi hoisted Naruto on his back and started walking, I whispered to Kakashi, 'How many Pains did Naruto defeat?'

He smiled under his mask. 'The Pains' had some kind of reanimation jutsu, they could revive after they were defeated. When Naruto battled them, he battled all six.'

I gasped. 'Together?' Kakashi nodded.

I turned to Naruto, who was listening to our conversation but was too tired to join in. 'Wow, Naruto, you're something else. Even Jairaiya sensei couldn't defeat all six.' I swallowed the memories of my former sensei, and those of the conversation I finished minutes ago with Nagato and Konan.

Naruto just nodded at my compliment, and gave me a faint smile.

'I didn't defeat all six, remember?' he whispered. I smiled at him, getting his reference to the one I had beheaded. We continued walking.

We reached the edge of the forest.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

ALL of Konoha's citizens, yes all, were gathered not too far. Satnding in front were all the rookies (we got that pet-name during the chunin exams) I had graduated with along with my other friends and sensei's. The rest of Konoha's citizens fanned out behind them.

I was shocked to see so many, I had imagined a lot of casualties on our side; we were fighting Pain after all. Then I gasped as the truth hit me.

Nagato's jutsu.

I remembered his last words, the name of the jutsu he had performed.

That jutsu had brought the dead back to life.

The feeling I had got back there, like the dead were coming back to life was because my Sharingan was seeing everything, even though my brain was not processing it. Deep down, I knew what happened, I just hadn't accepted it.

All our friends swarmed us, and Kakashi set Naruto down on his feet, and he was still wobbly. Sakura came up to him and knocked him on the head. I felt my temper rise at her foolishness, but it immediately subsided when she caught him as he fell down and then she hugged him. No one had yet acknowledged my presence, and I didn't know if I liked it that way or not.