When I woke, it was to the sound of cheering. Sakura had clearly healed the worst of my wounds and even pillowed my head with someone's jacket but was nowhere in sight, so I stood, limping, towards the closest person I could find.

"What's going on?" I asked.

She looked at me, eyes widening in recognition before replying, "People are--are coming back to life! Naruto is the savior of the village and is even somehow bringing people back from the dead!"

I raised an eyebrow but did nothing else to express my disbelief, knowing it wouldn't be received well in the face of her hero worship. Everyone did seem relieved and relaxed, however, so I would believe that Naruto somehow managed to defeat the Akatsuki leader.

Naruto had defeated the Akatsuki leader. Unexpectedly, my knees buckled and I barely kept upright as a wave of relief swept over me; it was over. Despite hours of fighting, despite watching people die right in front of me,  despite witnessing the destruction of the village, I had survived. My genin almost certainly were alive, too; they survived the worst of this assault and were far away from the fighting afterward.

I filled my aching lungs with air and let it out in a tremendous sigh. The threat was gone but the damage was still here; wearily, I prepared myself to find my genin and begin any extractions necessary. All I wanted to do was go back to the apartment and sleep for a few hours, but duty called. Not to mention chances were the apartment was no longer standing.

Travelling toward the extraction point I'd left my genin at took much longer than I thought it would; my worst injuries were healed, but my limbs still ached and trembled. With a grunt, I was forced to pause, stretching out a cramping calf against a piece of rubble. The apartment may have been decimated, but at this point I would happily find some corner of rubble to sleep in. I was certain my genin felt the same.

When I arrived at the point, everything was organized chaos, people rushing everywhere to help and find out what was going on. "Kento!" I called, spotting his red hair, even as streaked with dirt and plastered to his head with sweat as it was.

"Sensei! You're okay!" he shouted, handing the old woman he was helping off to another ninja. "Michiko and Aisa are this way; they're helping clear rubble from a house where someone got trapped."

I nodded, more relaxed now that I knew the genin were okay, and we turned to head in that direction. Before I could get far, someone grabbed my arm and tugged me back, and just before I punched the perpetrator in the face Aiden exclaimed, "Cashile!"

"Ah, Aiden," I acknowledged, any relief about his survival tempered by exhaustion. The same exhaustion was evident in his face, streaked with dirt, and I wondered how many near death experiences he'd had. I wondered if he'd seen anyone die, crushed by rubble. He wouldn't even know what was going on as our entire village was reduced to ruins in the blink of an eye. Where do you go from here? "You're--"

"Where's Aisa?! Is he okay?" he asked frantically, looking around. I smiled; I would always know what Aiden's priority was. "I haven't seen him--"

"Relax," I interrupted. "He's fine. I haven't seen him yet, but Kento would have reported if he was injured. Was he?" I raised an expectant eyebrow toward Kento, who shook his head.

"No more than when you last saw him," he answered.

"Which was minimally," I cut in before Aiden could panic. "C'mon, let's go find them."

***

"Aiden!" Aisa shrieked, throwing himself toward his older brother.

Aiden caught him, pressing his hand into Aisa's filthy hair and holding him tightly, eyes closed, a tear streaking unobtrusively down his cheek. "You're alive," he whispered reverently. "Thank God, you're alright."

"You're okay too!" Aisa pulled away, chattering excitedly even though he had to be as exhausted as everyone else. "I knew you made it to the extraction point but then the entire village went—" here Aisa waved his arms and made some sort of sound effect to signify the destruction of the village, "—but we were okay because a giant slug like enveloped us but I wasn't sure if you had any slugs around to help you out."

Aiden laughed, reaching forward and tousling Aisa's damp hair. "No, no slugs," he laughed. "But we were far enough away from the explosion and any building that fell, so we were safe."

As they were talking, Michiko had wandered up to stand beside me, and eventually leaned into my side. I wasn't sure if she was exhausted and needed support or just wanted comfort, but all the same I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hiding a wrinkle of my nose at her display of weakness. It was permissible, after all they had gone through today.

I caught Kento's gaze from where he was standing and beckoned him closer. He glanced at my arm wrapped around Michiko and at Aiden and Aisa's reunion before stepping forward and stopping in front of me. Placing a hand on his head, I smile and nod. "Not bad, Kento," I acknowledged. "You led the team well today."

He brightened, straightening with my praise despite how his shoulders drooped from exhaustion. He was always so desperate for approval; I had hoped for him to stop relying so much on other's affirmation, but maybe I should start praising him more when he did well. He responded well to it; it would make him easier to manipulate and train, so long as an enemy never took advantage of it.

"What exactly happened?" He asked. "Did we win? How? Who did it?"

I narrowed my eyes, watching ninja stream towards one edge of the village; that's where we could get info on what had happened and what would happen next. "They seem to have everything pretty much under control, here," I commented. "Let's go find out."

***

I watched the villagers set Naruto down from being thrown in the air. He had a stupid grin on his face, rubbing the back of his head bashfully as he talked with Sakura.

Everyone is dispersing, relaxing and resting and off-guard for the first time since Pain attacked and the battle began. This was time desperately needed to recuperate, to rest our minds and our bodies before beginning the battle that would be reconstruction and deciding who the next Hokage should be.

I ruffled Aisa's and Kento's hair affectionately, settling for a nod of approval when Michiko hurriedly stepped away, flattening her hair protectively. Apparently her earlier moment of weakness had passed. "Great work, Team Eight," I complimented. They grinned at my hard-won praise. "No one died and you even managed to keep all your limbs! Better than expected."

"Sensei," Kento complained, stepping away and shaking his head. "Of course we managed to keep our limbs attached; you taught us, after all."

I caught Aiden's eye and we both smiled, softer then the exuberant play put on for the genin, relief and exhaustion and the lingering remnants of fear clear in our eyes. I was just about to suggest we head for the apartment and see if it was still standing, and if it wasn't to see what we could salvage from it, when something caught my eye.

I wasn't sure what drew my gaze; perhaps the lack of movement of the figure against the hurried backdrop it stood against, perhaps some instinct honed and watchful, perhaps some part of me that vibrated in recognition of another like Itself. Whatever it was, I turned, locking gazes with the girl's golden eyes, the burn warping her the corner of her mouth in a perpetual frown of sorrow or sneer of disgust. My heart dropped, down, down, down, and I was suddenly very aware of Aisa and Michiko and Kento surrounding me, and Aiden still smiling softly at me, and I was certain something showed on my face because the girl, Honō, allowed an echo of a smirk to reach her eyes—as much of a display of emotion as a Claw could get away with—before sliding her mask on.

"Oh, come on," I whispered, exhaustion pressing down on me heavily, so oppressive I could barely draw breath. "Come on. Not now. Not now."

"What is it?" Aiden asked, suddenly right next to me, dark eyes suspicious, guarded. I could barely breathe, air catching in my throat; I was half a moment away from choking over nothing, but there was no time for that, I had to think, I had to move. I wasn't ready for this reunion with the Claw.

"I--no--shi--" I froze, mind racing but no words making their way out. People were going to die, maybe even me if I couldn't formulate a plan, and all I could think of was not now, this is too much, please.

"What are your orders, sensei?" Kento interrupted my thoughts, watching the Claw instead of me, gaze calm, and I am suddenly reminded that he was ranked in the top in his class, that he beat out Aisa, that he had picked me apart during our first introductions. One day he might make a great ninja.

I let out the breath that had froze in my lungs, still watching the Claw as she stood there, unmoving. A part of me still railed against this—another fight, here, now?—but I pushed it to the back of my mind. "Aisa, find Kakashi. Tell him to get here. Michiko, get Sakura; tell her everything you've seen. She'll know what to do to organize some help. Naruto should be with her, still, but he's so exhausted I doubt he'll be of any help. Kento, make sure that any wounded are out of the immediate vicinity, and let anyone you see know that there's going to be a fight. Another fight."

The three nodded, springing away to their assigned tasks, and I turned to Aiden. "Get out of here. You'll only get in the way."

"I can fight," he told me, standing his ground. "You've seen me. I'm not some helpless citizen to be pushed aside and protected."

"Not against a Claw," I replied seriously. "Not against that."

He studied me, tracing the lines of my face for any sign of deception. "You've seen me fight," he repeated. "You're certain that I couldn't help? That I would only get in the way?"

"I know it."

He watched me for a moment, face appearing expressionless to anyone but me. I knew the lines on his forehead that spoke of worry, the clench of his jaw that betrayed his determination, the slight widening of his eyes that showed his fear. Then he nodded, and relief coursed through me because he was listening, he trusted me.

"I'll leave," he assured. "Toward the nearest evacuation area. Keep Aisa out of this, too, please."

"I plan to." I nodded, and he took a step back, away from the Claw and away from me. "He wouldn't be of any help, either."

A hint of a fond smile caught the corner of his lip despite everything. "You be careful, too," he ordered, taking another half step away in the direction of the evacuation area. "Please."

"When am I not?" I questioned, and something in his face broke. With a choked back sob breaking through his defenses he took two steps back, hands framing my face and leaning down. He kissed me, quickly, desperately, and when he stepped away neither of us said anything more.  He simply turned, picking his way across rubble as he headed somewhere he would be safe.

I turned back to where the Claw was standing, masked face staring down at me, a silhouette on top of the hill. Once It knew It had my attention, It raised Its hand and waved forward, the dark shadow of Its arm passing over me, made long by the setting sun.

The flame will burn the leaf to the ground.

A line of Claws joined the first, and I fell into dizzying despair.

________________________________________________________________________

Well here is another chapter for you guys!!! It's finals week please leave long inspiring comments this was written amidst major procrastination

How'd you like it? Please comment!!!

Hopefully I pass all my exams and I still have my portfolio to finish up and one last paper to write for an awful class ugh but then I'm free!

Comment!!!

gaara119

Ya'll finals and working over 40 hours a week is doing me in. we're strugginling here, so pls leave nice comments, haha.

-S