Inari Blessed

Decisions

"Yumi..." Yumiko turned around and smiled at the sleep ruffled Naruto. It was already noon, but Yumiko had let him sleep in since all of them needed the rest.

"Hey, Naru..."

"I am sorry."

Yumiko chuckled, "Don't be an idiot, there's nothing to be sorry for."

"I was quite rude to you yesterday," he says, slightly ashamed.

"I said don't be an idiot, Naru. Yesterday, all of us were pretty messed up..." She trails off solemnly but Naruto shakes his head.

"No, Yumi. I want you to understand that what I said yesterday doesn't mean that I don't trust you with my problems. I trust you; I trust both you and Kyo very much. You are right; yesterday, all of us were pretty messed up. I think that I was a little past 'messed up', though. I was scared and confused and generally losing my mind, that's why I was so... I am sorry, Yumi. I just don't want you to doubt how much I trust you."

Naruto finds himself comforted by Yumiko's warmth as she engulfs him in a hug and speaks softly, "I don't doubt anything, Naru... I don't doubt you..."

They stay like that for some time when Yumiko voices, "Did you speak with Kyo?"

Naruto nods slowly, "He said that he understands... said that I should talk to you though."

Yumiko hums.

"Have you decided what to do with the memories?" Yumiko asks cautiously.

"Not yet... I need more time. It feels so calm without those memories. My mind finally feels like it is my own. When I had them I was so afraid."

Naruto cannot remember any of the memories of his ancestors anymore, but the experience had shaken him up.

"I will tell you both when I decide what to do with them."

Yumiko nods.

It was already afternoon, so they spend the rest of the day resting and regaining their energy.

Naruto had a conversation with Uzume as well. It went fine, he listened to her and it helped. Earlier when he had actually killed all of those people, he didn't give it much thought because he had the memories from many lives of killing innumerable amounts of enemies that it felt like an unimportant detail. But now, looking at it when he had no memory of any previous battles and thinking with a clear mind, the weight of his first kill sank down deep. Uzume's talk helped him a lot with that.

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They spend the following week at Wave.

The shinobi actively helped in building the bridge, as well as rebuilding the village. Naruto helped a lot with healing people who had gotten injured during the fight. Needless to say, Naruto was quite famous among the villagers.

Shin was suspiciously docile during the whole week. He even apologized to Kyoshiro in front of the rest of them. The only ones who weren't fooled by his act were Naruto, Kyoshiro and Yumiko. Shin was a very good actor, but emotion sensing was just too hard to surmount, even with the best acting skills. Yumiko didn't have any emotion sensing abilities, but she could read Naruto and Kyoshiro well enough to know that the two didn't trust Shin and that was enough for her to not trust him as well.

Sasuke was very solemn and withdrawn for two days straight before Naruto dragged him out of his funk. After that, he was doing much better.

Sakura was different. She was silent and withdrawn during the entire week. Her encounter with Sasuke had changed something and all of them hoped that the change was for the better.