Hello, Goodbye // A Kakanaru Story

Chapter 9

I finished Chapter 11 just a few seconds ago and decided to give you guys a small treat in the form of an early update. If I finish Chapter 12 tomorrow, then I'll do another early update as another treat for you lovely guys. ^-^

1) Please don't yell at me for the long paragraphs in the beginning. Read them, it will make you proud of Naruto and his team.

2) I'm gonna go ahead and say this but Itachi DOES NOT have an illness in this story. It was just easier to leave it out entirely.

3) I love Naruto cry fests for some odd reason. It's fulfilling to write some comfort fluff every once in a while (or every few chapters if you're like me).

4) I sorta accidentally made Naruto do the Rasenshuriken at one point and when I realized this, I worked around it.

Please don't kill me because of the cliffhanger at the end. T-T If you enjoy this chapter, leave a vote and a comment.

"Some people survive and talk about it. Some people survive and go silent. Some people survive and create. Everyone deals with unimaginable pain in their own way, and everyone is entitled to that, without judgment. So the next time you look at someone's life covetously, remember...you may not want to endure what they are enduring right now, at this moment, whilst they sit so quietly before you, looking like a calm ocean on a sunny day. Remember how vast the ocean's boundaries are. Whilst somewhere the water is calm, in another place in the very same ocean, there is a colossal storm." -- Nirita Gill.

Chapter Nine:

    Almost as soon as the Genjutsu was placed, Hiruzen and Orochimaru, who was impersonating as the Kazekage, jumped to the roof, Gaara not too far behind despite being so far below them. Fighting in the stadium seats erupted around the sleeping civilians and weak shinobi and Hiruzen could just see a shock of blonde hair beside pink and silver in the stadium out of the corner of his eye. As soon as he had located Naruto and his team, Sasuke still in the stadium itself fighting Gaara's older siblings, he turned his whole and undivided attention to his former pupil, who looked annoyed that a person had decided to crash his plan but confident that he would still win the fight.

    There were no words spoken, as Gaara immediately surrounded the Sannin before he could move and broke the Sannin's arms making it impossible for the man to do the hand signs necessary for jutsus. Complete silence fell as four ANBU came to take the erroneous man to prison after putting chakra-blocking cuffs on him. Gaara bowed to Hiruzen before leaving to help his new friend out in the stadium.

    The whole battle took about two hours to peter out. The civilians in the village had been successfully evacuated beforehand and the Jonins who had not been at the exams were fighting on the streets. The original Ino-Shika-Cho team had shown up right when things were getting hairy for the chunins and greatly reduced the casualties. Naruto's team had also been of great help as well, running around the stadium seats wherever needed. One thing that everyone noticed was that Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were one of the only genin teams capable of doing whatever was necessary in order to protect the Konoha citizens, including killing their enemies, although the Jonins and Chunins around them did notice a slight hesitancy right after they killed someone as if silently apologizing for the necessity.

    It was due to those factors that led team 7, plus Shikamaru and Gaara, to be standing in front of the Hokage's desk. If anyone noticed Naruto's trembling, no one commented on it, passing it as nerves. Kakashi knew better and yearned to comfort his blonde genin, but couldn't because this was a serious conversation taking place.

Hiruzen silently watched the genins in front of him before slowly sighing, "I have called you five here because of the strengths that you showed not only in the exams but also in the battle against the Suna and Oto nins. Gaara," Hiruzen called and Gaara stepped forward. "Although you are not a Konoha Nin, I am promoting you to Chunin due to the fact that you took the initiative to warn me about the invasion beforehand and the initiative you took against Orochimaru, making sure that he was made immobile without killing him. Also, according to your Sensei, you have shown tremendous restraint in not only the preliminaries but also in the second part of the exam as well. You still have a long way to go, though."