Usagi 74
>>>>CHAPTER 74<<<<
>>>>Hero<<<<
'Thank you... for everything, Usagi.'
Usagi opened her eyes, a coughing fit taking over her frail body the second she knew she was alive.
... Alive. She was alive?
It wasn't just her though, everyone who had died during Pain's attack on Konoha found themselves waking up, uninjured and very much confused.
Nagato had given his life to make things right, to bring back all the innocent people he had killed.
"Usagi!" Naruto ran towards his red haired friend. "Usagi, you're alive!"
The girl glanced around, unsure of where she was and of what was going on. Just a moment ago she had been speaking with Kurama, the Nine Tailed Fox... why was she...? Her surroundings were rather dark, the bright blue eyes of her teammate standing out as he approached.
Usagi pulled the cloth that had covered her stomach away, glancing down at her skin.
Fine... she was perfectly fine. There was a large hole in her singlet, where she had been stabbed, but where she had been stabbed- where a gaping hole should have been- was fine, not a single trace of her death left on her skin.
"... N-Naruto?" She looked up at the blonde.
Tears welled up in his eyes, his arms wrapping around the small, confused girl. "I thought you were gone... That I'd never see you again..."
Usagi sat up straight, something made rather difficult by the sobbing blonde leaning on her. She managed to move her body more upright though, her rinnegan eyes meeting Konan's amber ones as she did so.
The blue haired woman had tears streaming down her face as she looked at something behind Usagi.
Usagi didn't need to look to know what it was.
"... Nagato..." The young girl whispered, her lip twitching into a quivering pout as her eyes went wide.
Naruto pulled away, drying his eyes. "... Sorry, Usagi."
It was at that moment the small girl broke. She burst into tears, sobbing over the death of her sensei.
---- ---- ---- ----
Naruto, Konan, and Usagi all stood outside, watching as Konan wrapped Nagato's body and one of the paths of Pain in origami squares.
"You're taking him too?" Naruto questioned, glancing at the body with short orange hair.
"This path was created from Yahiko's corpse." Konan explained. "He was someone very special to us."
"... That's Yahiko?"
Konan nodded, the entirety of his body being covered with paper as she did so.
She turned around, moving the now wrapped up bodies with the wave of her hand. "Usagi," She said.
The small redhead turned around too, ready to walk with the woman.
"Wait, what are you going to do?" Naruto asked. "I don't want you to join Akatsuki, and I don't want you drag Usagi along with you anymore."
The woman shook her head. "I'm through with Akatsuki. Yahiko and Nagato were everything to me. Their dream has been entrusted to you, and Ame has been entrusted to Usagi. The Hidden Rain will help you, and make their dream come true."
Naruto frowned. "Usagi... do you want to go with her?"
Usagi nodded, a smile on her face. "Yeah... Nagato wanted me to."
Naruto couldn't help but smile too. "To think that you bet me to becoming a leader... you're too lazy to become a leader."
Too lazy to become a leader... she had been too lazy to become chunin, let alone the leader of a village.
"Well... I can't really say no... can I?"
"You're still a genin though, aren't you?" Naruto questioned. "Just like me."
It was true. Usagi was technically a genin, though when asked what rank she was, she was never able to answer. Tsunade gave her many A-rank and S-rank missions, so nobody ever actually considered her to be a genin.
"Are you allowed to go from genin to leader? Do you think I could I could?"
Usagi giggled. "No shortcuts..." She said. "You gotta become Hokage, the real way."
Naruto pulled out a book from his pocket, 'Tales of a Gusty Ninja', holding it outwards to Usagi. "Here. If you're going to the Hidden Rain, you should have this with you. It's yours after all."
Usagi took hold of the book, its cover rather dirty and beaten. "You read it?" She asked.
"Kakashi-Sensei let me borrow it. I hope you don't mind."
She didn't mind, she was just a little embarrassed. She had written notes in the book, thoughts and things she had liked about it. She had written about Naruto in that book. She hoped he didn't see what she had written...
With a faint hint of pink tinting her cheeks, she clutched the book to her chest.
Konan spoke up, relating to what Naruto had said earlier. He asked if Usagi wanted to go to Ame. "Usagi is a criminal now," She said. "Even if she wanted to, she couldn't stay in Konoha."
"Oh... right. I forgot." Naruto laughed sheepishly. "Well, it doesn't matter... you're safe in the Rain Village, and when I become Hokage, our villages will definitely be allies!"
Usagi grinned, showing a thumbs up and striking the nice guy pose. She nodded eagerly.
Konan, smiling faintly after seeing the two sixteen year olds interacting so cheerfully, creating a bouquet with her jutsu in her moment of reminiscing. Once upon a time, Konan was just as happy as these two were. She extended the bouquet out towards Naruto, who gladly accepted.
"I hope for you that these flowers will represent your hope, and that they will never die." She said.
Naruto took hold of the paper roses, a smile on his face as he agreed with her words. "Yeah."
He watched on as Konan turned around, ready to leave. "Are you ready, Usagi?" She asked.
"... One minute..." The redhead answered, quickly walking right up to Naruto. "How much can you remember?" She asked.
"You mean information?" The boy inquired with an eyebrow raised. Usagi nodded. "Uh, I can remember enough... not as much as you, though."
Usagi sighed. Ah well, she was sure he would remember.
"Stay safe," She began. "Tell Dad that I'm ok... that I'm sorry, for running away 'nd stuff. Tell Tsunade I'm sorry about Jiraiya... and that I hope she forgives me... for siding with Nagato. He wasn't a bad person though... he just made a lot of mistakes, like I did. Tell Anko that we need to have a girl's night... and tell Shikamaru and Choji... they still owe me money, from when we got barbeque. Oh, and tell Neji..." Usagi blushed. No way could she say something so embarrassing to Naruto. "Uh... actually... I'll tell him that, next time I see him..."
She could have kept on going, but they had already taken far too long. Soon, people would find Naruto, and if the wrong people found him while he was talking to Usagi and Konan... they had to set off very soon to avoid another bad situation.
Usagi hugged Naruto.
"Be careful," The blonde said.
"I will be." Usagi said. "No more mistakes."
As she said those words, she pulled away, turning around and standing next to Konan.
"I'll see you again sometime." Naruto said.
He didn't know when, but he knew it would happen. Usagi was his teammate after all.
A second later, Konan and Usagi were gone.
Naruto made his way back to the Leaf Village after that, his tiredness finally catching up with him. The amount of energy and chakra he had used up in that battle had been crazy, it was amazing he had managed to walk as far as he had on his own.
But he had only managed to get halfway.
Naruto tripped over the trunk of one of the many trees in the forest he was walking through, falling forward towards the dirt below. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he found himself on someone's back.
"Good job." The person said, Naruto hanging over his back.
"Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto smiled as he realized it was his sensei who had caught him. So everyone really had come back to life.
"Just hang on." Kakashi said. It was a teacher's job to take care of their students, to teach them and help them. Well, even though Kakashi was never the best teacher to his students, he wanted them to know he would always be there to help.
As Kakashi walked, Naruto securely on his back, the blonde spoke up.
"Usagi's ok." He said. "She wanted to say she was sorry for running away..."
Kakashi, though frowning, couldn't help but smile. "That girl..." He sighed.
It was just as his father had said to Kakashi before he was revived and brought back to the living world.
'That girl's quite a handful it would seem... and I thought you were bad. You've done a good job, Kakashi. Raising a child is not an easy task. Not only are a fine son, but you're a fine father too. I'm glad to be able to say I have a granddaughter... I'm sure your mother would be proud too.'
As soon as the two reached Konoha, a crowd of people were waiting for them.
"You're a hero!"
"Welcome back!"
"Thank you!"
The joyful cheers of citizens sounded as the blonde boy came into sight.
Naruto stared at the crowd with wide eyes. Were... were they talking to him?
"They've all been waiting for you." Kakashi said as Naruto hopped off his back. He was proud, his student who had dreamed of being a hero all his life was finally becoming one.
"Naruto!!" A crowd of children ran towards the blonde.
"What was he like?!" The children all crowded around him.
"Are you hurt?"
"Hey! Don't shove!" Naruto said, the excited group of kids all squishing him.
Hero...
That was a word he could get used to being called.
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AN/ So Usagi had no idea Kakashi died, he was alive again by the time she woke up. Does she ever find out?
Spoiler alert: She doesn't.
Anyway, on a less relevant but very important note, I need to say something.
Thank you.
From the bottom of my heart and with every bit of sincerity I have, I want to thank you all for being such wonderful and supportive people and always making me smile. The amount of beautiful comments you guys leave really just makes me so happy, I appreciate every single word and they really mean so much to me! You all motivate me to keep updating and writing, and I really appreciate it! I don't even know how to describe how knowing that you guys truly like and relate to this story makes me feel. So I won't try and describe it, I'll just say it once again. Thank you!!!!
Ah gee, I'm smiling like an idiot now, you guys are all too nice >.<
Anyway, thank you all so much for reading and for the wonderful comments!
-C