LIGHTNOVELONLINE Konoha [ORIGIN UNIVERSE]
~~Konoha~~ (One Year Later)
“Off… There you go” Naruto grunted as he dropped the wooden planks he was carrying. He raised his hand and wiped his forehead as he stared toward the sun. “Hey guys!” Naruto exclaimed while waving his hand in the air. Sakura, who was standing by the construction site returned the smile before she started to approach him.
“Here, you must be really tired” Sakura said as she handed him a water bottle.
“Thanks, Sakura-chan” Naruto thanked her with a toothy grin on his face before he quickly chugged down all the water from the bottle.
“How was the trip, Naruto?” Sakura asked as she led him to a nearby shade.
“It was smooth” Naruto answered as she sat down under the under with Sakura following his example. “Are you sure you can take a break, right now?” Naruto asked as he pointed toward the construction workers. The 4th Shinobi War might have taken place far from Konoha, but Konoha was far from pristine when the war was finally over.
The God Tree Madara created had sprouted inside Konoha too and caused quite a bit of destruction… Even after trying for months, they failed to cut down the tree. It was a bitter reminder of their defeat, but Konoha was still their home. So, they simply decided to rebuild everything around the God Tree. They wanted to give the message that they were not willing to give up.
They were willing to stand up and keep fighting… It may not mean much in the face of what they have lost, but it was still a lot better than simply giving up…
“It is fine. I am just a medic, I am not needed all the time” Sakura waved off his concerns with a smile on her face. “So, when did you return?” Sakura asked as she turned to look at him.
“Just a couple of hours ago” Naruto answered while staring at the Hokage Mountain. “I went to meet Kakashi-sensei as soon as I did and then after I finished reporting, he dismissed me. Since I had nothing to do, I decided to walk around and help someone along the way if I can” Naruto explained with a grin and Sakura couldn’t help but smile at his words.
“So, how is Suna faring?” Sakura asked curiously.
The grin on Naruto’s face faltered… “They are trying… Without Chakra… Everything is hard and in the desert, survival has become harder” Naruto answered grimly. “Suna isn’t going to last for long in those harsh conditions, but they are reluctant to move. Kakashi-sensei has agreed to bring up their issue during the next meeting” Naruto explained.
“So, we are willing to give them refuge, right?” Sakura asked, but instead of getting an affirmation from Naruto, he simply shrugged.
“Not sure… It is complicated. Konoha is no longer autonomous and we no longer hold any value to the Daimyou. So, it is hard to tell which way the ball is going to roll” Naruto explained, earning a grim nod from Sakura.
Now that Chakra was gone, they lost all of their value in the eyes of the Daimyous and the Daimyous would have sacked their villages if it wasn’t too much of a bother. After all, it wasn’t like Samurais still possessed Chakra and trying to sack their villages would have caused a lot of bloodshed, something all the Daimyous wanted to avoid. That was the only reason the Hidden Villages were left alone.
However, the Daimyous did not miss the opportunity to put a tighter leash around their necks. With Chakra gone, physical power was no longer a factor. Money was all that mattered and Daimyous were the ones who possessed all the money even before the war… So, even though Konoha still existed, it was just a Great Village in name only. Konoha had become just a city in Fire Nation.
“Even Kumo and Kiri are starting to face a lot of problems. Kumo lacks any land for agriculture and Kiri lacks the sunlight to grow anything” Naruto explained grimly.
“So, what is going to happen to them?” Sakura asked, feeling worried.
“Kakashi-sensei had been trying to bring farmers from all over the Fire Nation to help us farm, but it is still a work in progress. If it works out, then maybe we can help them out by drawing some trade agreements” Naruto said before rubbing his head in frustration. Conversations like this made him remember just what was at stake and what they lost.
That realization simply made it feel even more guilty for losing… All of his promises, all of his convictions, and finally his Ninja Way has become completely meaningless… All of that sounded so fake now that they were here…
Sakura smiled sadly as she realized what he must be thinking about. “You shouldn't kick yourself like that Naruto…” Sakura said as she squeezed his hand comfortingly. “We are still alive, aren’t we?” Sakura asked, trying to cheer him up. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Sakura had accepted the fact that they couldn’t have won. Kaguya was not someone they could win against.
Maybe in some world, maybe in some other time, it would have been possible…
“How is Baa-chan?” Naruto asked, trying to change the topic.
“She is stable right now and she is going to stay like that for the years to come” Sakura explained, earning a grin from Naruto. “However, she is planning to start a school” Skaura added after a moment.
“A school?” Naruto asked, looking confused.
“With Chakra gone, Iryojutsu has become impossible, so we need to return to the basics, or that is what Lady Tsunade is saying. We need to learn how to heal people the hard way and Lady Tsunade is the one who knows about human bodies the most, so she wants to pass on the knowledge before she passes away” Sakura winced at the end as she knew what Lady Tsunade meant to Naruto.
“Ah…” Naruto sighed in understanding but did not say anything else. Without Chakra, Tsunade was unable to maintain her prime condition and the Genjutsu to hide her true age.
“How is Sasuke doing?” Naruto asked and he immediately regretted his words when he noticed the look on Sakura’s face. “…Uh… Sorry” Naruto apologized, but Sakura simply waved it away.
“It is alright… We both know how he is. Kaguya took both of his eyes and without Chakra, it is hard for him to move around. His other senses are sharp, they help, but not so much…” Sakura explained while tightly clutching her hands. “…He just seems so lost…” Sakura trailed off with a pained look on her face. Sasuke has changed a lot since they graduated from the academy.
Most of the changes were for the worse as he decided to join Orochimaru to seek his revenge, but now… Now, Sakura wasn’t so sure. Now, it felt like Sasuke had given up on everything… It felt like he was simply following through the motion. Naruto was way better than him in that regard… Naruto also felt lost after they woke up, but he did not let it keep him down.
He decided to stand up and keep moving… Sasuke was always weak in that regard… Sakura could clearly see that now…
“Hey, guys!!” Both Naruto and Sakura perked up at the voice. They turned their heads to look at the figure approaching them. Ino was coming in their direction while waving her hand in the air and Ino wasn’t alone… She was being followed by, Shikamaru, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here, following Ino, who was a troublesome blond, in his opinion.
Then there was Choji, Sai, Kiba, Hinata, Toneri… Toneri was found lying outside the compound of the Hyuga Clan and apparently, he was left there by Kaguya after stole his Chakra from him. However, that wasn’t the biggest shocker. Apparently, Toneri was a direct descendant of Kaguya and the last remaining member of their clan on this planet.
His clan had been keeping an eye on Earth for a thousand years… His Clan was assigned to keep the Juubi from getting revived. A fat load of good that did… Naruto blamed Toneri for their defeat. Even if he couldn’t have done anything, he could have at least warned them when the Gedo Mazo was summoned by Madara for the first time, but he did not do that.
He simply decided to sit on his laurels and watch the show… Maybe they could have stopped Kaguya from getting resurrected if they knew what was happening from the beginning…
Naruto felt someone squeeze his hand and turned to look at Sakura. “I know how you feel about him, but he is suffering too…” Sakura reminded him and after taking a deep breath, Naruto finally started to calm down, but it was just so hard… “And it had not been busy for Hinata after the war” Sakura reminded him and Naruto winced at the reminder.
When the branch members of the Hyuga finally realized that the Caged-Bird Seal was no longer functioning. They decided to revolt! They did not care that they no longer possessed Chakra, but they wanted to get back at the main branch of the house… All the members of the main branch of the Hyuga clan were executed after the revolt and only Hinata and her sister Hanabi were spared of such a fate.
Hinata was the only one who treated them nicely and they knew how much she cared about her sister. That was the only reason why Hanabi was spared… He could only imagine what Hinata and her sister were probably going through…
“Hey, guys” Naruto greeted his friends after quickly schooling his features.
“So, when did you get back Naruto?” Ino asked with a grin as she plopped down beside Naruto. The others also decided that the shade was nice and decided to sit down.
“A few hours ago” Naruto answered with a smile. “So, the whole gang is here?” Naruto asked as he looked around.
“Well, I was having the time of my life, watching clouds, but someone had to drag me away” Shikamaru said as he threw Ino a dirty look, who simply huffed in annoyance. Naruto remembered that Ino, Shikamaru and Choji had lost their fathers during the war and now they were the ones leading their clans. Even if they were no longer Shinobis, their clans were going nowhere.
“Well… Ino-san said she was planning a get-together and I also wanted to show Toneri-san around, so decided to join her” Hinata explained while feeling nervous.
“Ino promised to take me to barbeque, so you know…” Choji trailed off while munching on his chips. Yeah, he could see how that could entice a member of the Akimichi clan.
“Ino-san wanted me to explore more emotions, dickless” Sai explained his reasons and a vein popped on Naruto’s head at the nickname. He had whenever Sai did that, but Sai had kind of grown on him.
“Bwahaha! Dickless? Way to go, Sai!” Kiba cheered, but Sai slowly turned toward him and gave him a fake smile.
“Of course, Cocksucker” Sai agreed with a smile and Kiba immediately lunged at Sai so that he could beat Sai’s face in, but he was held back by Choji. Akamaru simply glared at Sai but didn’t do anything else.
Meanwhile, Ino cuffed Sai on the back of his head. “How many times have I told you to stop with the name-calling?” Ino asked in an annoyed tone and Sai smartly decided to look apologetic to avoid any further disciplining. Naruto smiled at the sight of his bickering friends. It reminded him of the old days when everything was nice and peaceful.
“A get-together?” Naruto asked excitedly remembering the old days when they went to eat together after every successful mission.
“Of course” Ino admitted as she puffed out her chest proudly. “Even though we lost. Even though we are no longer Shinobis, the world is not going to stop moving and just like the world, we need to keep moving too” Ino huffed with a determined look on her face and even though the others did not show it on their faces, they were glad they had someone to cheer them up and remind them of what was important.
‘We are alive and that is what matters. We might have lost, but we must keep moving forward’ Naruto thought as he clutched his hand in determination…
So, what do you guys think? I decided to go for a lighter tone ending filled with some darker elements.
Someone said that they couldn't view the images, so here they are again in the spoiler section.
