Akira's POV

That night I had just finished up training my team when all the lights in Konoha went out. I told the kids to get home quickly and safely. I started investigating what had happened. It wasn't unusual for a block of lights to go out, but for the whole village plus the back up generators. It was beyond unusual. People stopped in their tracks and stared at the ninjas running across the rooftops. They began communicating with flashlights in morse code from roof to roof.

Soon after large pillars began to rise around the village, five in total. They rose higher than the walls, taller than the hokage mountain. A film seemed to connect them all, forming a dome over our heads. I had to find Hiroka and Leader. Jitte struggled in my arms, the malicious air seemed to give him further life.

"You are going to be one tough cookie."

I made a U-turn to the nearest tunnel system and flared my chakra as bright as possible catching the attention of more than one anbu.

By the time my feet hit the ground my team had me surrounded.

"We've started evacuating civilians." Hanabi reported. "Why'd you call us?"

"Sorry guys, I needed to call Hiroka and Leader."

Jiodo rose his hand, "I'm heading to Under-Konoha with a large group of civilians soon, do you need me to run a message?"

I looked at Jitte. "Sort of…"

A man hole cover lifted near us. "Ow, not so fast." Hiroka appeared rubbing her head. "You called kid?"

"Yeah sorry, I just need you guys to take Jitte to a safe place now."

"Sounds good, we got the information by the way."

"Thanks for that, I'll have to review it after…whatever this is."

"Sure. Catch you around kid. Be safe."

"Don't forget to eat your vegetables." Leader yelled from below.

"Got it." I laughed as the manhole was replaced and they vanished.

"They seemed like nice people." Hanabi said.

Jiodo shrugged. "They can be."

"Alright you three, time to get this started. I want you to take full control of the evacuation. If it's not complete in under 10 minutes it's considered failure."

"Understood." They each jumped to separate rooftops.

"Keep in communication." I yelled after them. "Now time to figure out what I can do."

I leapt to the rooftops, feeling 20 pounds lighter. I hadn't realized how much that kid weighed until he was gone, I also didn't have any nagging doubts about leaving him with someone.

I stopped at the large square in town, and rose the temperature of my body. I felt the scales grow, and my bones shift and expand. I grew past the houses, as a tail slowly wrapped itself around the fountain. I closed my eyes as the world seemed to shimmer, and my nose elongated.

When I opened them again, I was a dragon taller than the buildings but smaller than the mountains. I heard anbus cry out, as they shot kunai at me but I could ignore them as the bounced off my scales. I stood on my hind legs and nudged the barrier with my nose. It was sturdy and seemed to hum with energy, I pushed harder. It didn't budge, it was like stone.

I drew back and felt the fire nudge its way to my throat before I sent a stream of fire at it. The dome steamed but did nothing else.

I let smoke out my nose. "Nothing I can do about that."

I turned back to the anbu, brushing past the buildings as I made my way through the streets. I caught sight of Asuma running towards the electrical plant, he didn't notice or acknowledge me to caught up in whatever he was doing.

I could see some genin running between buildings helping the elderly move towards the evacuation centres but they were moving much more slowly than the ninjas. According to the flickering flashlights, the enemy had made it inside the gate and the Hokage had moved into combat.

I shed my scales and shrank back to my normal self before standing in front of the kids.

"Hey," The kid with the long scarf and loud voice said, "Move out of the way. We're trying to evacuate here."

"There's a simpler way. Much safer."

His friends looked at each other, "Well, okay. But where is it?"

"Sensei!" Kaito called from the rooftops. "We've evacuated all of grid line 1."

"Good timing." I said as he jumped down. "Escort them to our evacuation paths, and let them know where some of the others are. Grid line 2 needs out asap."

The barrier around the village dissolved. Maybe we wouldn't need to evacuate using the tunnels this time. Kaito was introducing himself to the other kids and explaining the plan, but his directional sense was a bit different than most. Relying more on small details on each street and naming them after that. Sushi street, medical street, the hole filled tree road. Things like that. Extremely efficient when you need to confuse people, not so efficient when planning a rescue.

Three rays of lightning rose above the village and met in the center.

"Actually kids," I rubbed my head. "Make it the whole village. I'll get everyone in the center of that thing, you kids stay out of the battlefield and work on the perimeter grid."

The three new kids nodded, and followed obediently behind Kaito. I stopped the one big talker before he left, "What's your name?"

"Konohamaru.''

"And your friends?"

"Udon, and Moegi."

I nodded as I began to walk away, I'd have to write up a brief report about this so my students and I guess those three can get credit as well.

"What about you?"

I had a vague recollection of the kid following Naruto around, I didn't have a bad opinion or a good one of him so I didn't think we'd ever talked. But if he was in contact with Naruto, I probably shouldn't say my name.

"Don't worry about it." I patted his head and leapt for the rooftops.

That thing looked dangerous, and it looked near completion. We're running out of time. I concentrated on Hanabi's chakra and Jiodo's. Looks like they were working together to evacuate people to under konoha. I landed beside them.

"Hey you two."

"Sensei!" Hanabi smiled. "Grid line 2 should be evacuated soon."

Jiodo groaned as he sealed his makeshift entrance to the tunnels. "If I can keep this up, you mean. I'm tired…" He rubbed his eyes.

I rubbed his head gently. "You'll be able to rest soon. But I want you two to focus on getting the perimeter squares out."

"Why?" Hanabi asked, "Wasn't the attack focused on the gate?"

Jiodo nodded, "There was a lot of earth moving near the gate so we started with row 1."

"Time changes things." I pointed to the lightning. "I'll be focusing on the center. Kaito's enlisted some more help with the perimeter. He seems to be –

"Over there." They both pointed to the east.

It took me a minute to remember who taught them this, "Right, so… if you two could move up column A and maybe simultaneously B before crossing over row 8. That'd be great."

"Sure, sensei." Hanabi agreed easily.

"I think I can manage 3 more lines."

"Thanks you two. Stay safe." I took another look at the sky. "And if that thing gets any worse, get yourselves out. Kaito knows this too."

"Obviously." Jiodo muttered.

"You really need a nap." I leapt back onto the roofs. Time to get star –

The jutsu.

It was dissolving. The lightning dissipated back into the atmosphere harmlessly.

"What the hell is going on?"

Soon after, demonic chakra began leeching out of the forest, radiating in a pillar up to the sky.

Naruto! I spun on my heel.

It had to be him. No one else has chakra like that. My hand grabbed the shirt over my stomach. I didn't want to get near it.

"Are you not going?" His heels lightly clicked across the roof.

I shook my head, "I can't face him… Not yet." My hand gripped my stomach.

"What if I told you it wasn't him?"

I looked Evelyeen in the eye. "There's no way it's anyone but him. No one else has chakra like that."

Evelyeen nodded, his hair had been returned to its lilac shading.

"Where have you been?"

"Missions, Hiroka has me running around the countryside gathering intelligence. Which we need to have a chat about by the way."

"Sure. Now good?"

He waved his finger at me, "You're not getting out of this so easy. You are going to go down there and handle this professionally."

"So, no crying?"

"None."

"No screaming?"

"Not a peep."

"…Swearing?"

"Give it to him good." He smiled. "As long as you talk. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to get to."

He vanished without another word and I sat down on the rooftop. He didn't have a meeting, I could feel it. He was looking for a good fight, one that would thrill him to his bones. He wanted to kill something.

Probably me.

I laid down on the roof. I didn't want to move. But as the chakra became more intense I found I had to. I sluggishly dragged myself up, sympathizing with Shikamaru whenever I interrupted his rest.

I arrived near the newly created crater, hiding in the trees as Shikamaru used shadow possession jutsu on Sora, the new kid. I almost sighed in relief when it wasn't Naruto that was oozing the dangerous chakra.

Sora was cloaked in the stuff; a single tail had emerged and his teeth were pointed. It really did remind me of that day. Naruto was standing close by as Chouji grabbed Sora's shoulders and kept him still.

"Get off." Sora struggled. "Get off me."

Naruto, Sakura, and Yamato approached him.

"It's can't be right, it doesn't make sense. If you've really got the nine-tails inside you, how can you have so many friends? You should be an outcast. Why aren't you alone like I've been? Like I've been all these years."

I edged closer to them, standing on the rim of the crater. The chakra was definitely the same but I honestly couldn't figure out how it got inside Sora. Not only that but Naruto being the nine-tails vessel was meant to be top secret, how did everyone find out about it?

What the hell did I miss the last two years? I mean I wasn't in the village until a few months ago but that goes double for Naruto. So, who spilled? How'd Sora find out? I stood silently, and kept my breathing calm.

I'd have to ask Shikamaru, or maybe Sai, Kakashi probably knows why as well. So, I've got a few options.

Naruto stared at Sora before taking a deep breath and starting, "It was the same with me too. Once. When I was little, for the most part I was left on my own. But even then, I didn't have the time to be lonely. I was to busy getting people to notice me and it finally worked. Yep, I made friends like these. Good friends."

"I have no friends. I have no friends at all."

"You're wrong! I'm – I mean – all of us are your friends."

Naruto's amazing friendship-no-jutsu seemed to only make things worse as the chakra cloaking Sora began burning Chouji's hands. He leapt back and Shikamaru gave orders to Ino. She jumped further back and used her mind transfer jutsu on Sora. She screamed and immediately withdrew her soul from Sora's.

If that jutsu was based on genjutsu I can basically guess what she saw. Sasuke and I had been through something similar back during the 6 months' incident. She was lucky she didn't stick around to long, Sasuke and I had been traumatized for months after.

Sora seemed to be in more pain, I couldn't remember how to remedy this. Orochimaru never bothered teaching me sealing jutsus as I had very little talent for it. Suddenly I wished we'd pushed that training more.

I brushed the blank tags in my bag, I could always make one. I could pull the nine-tails soul out of Sora but I couldn't be sure which one it would grab. Not only that but I'd have to deal with the after math… If Sasuke were here I might have chanced it. Or at least spoken with him beforehand.

I let my hand drop to my side, a rueful smile on my face. All these years of training, and I'm still hopeless.

A third tail appeared in the nine-tails cloak, and Naruto rushed in.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one that hadn't changed at all. How could he still be this recklessly stupid?

Sasuke…Sai… I'm sorry for my choice in men.

Sora raised a clawed hand and brought it down, emitting a blast of wind that sent Naruto flying in my direction. I jumped back into a tree as the others got closer. They paused as a hand came up out of the rubble and did little else to help him.

Was everyone always like this? I grabbed strands of my hair. Sasuke has better team work than them. Sasuke! Of all people!

Naruto shakily stood up, "That's Sora. He's in there. It might not seem like him, but the real Sora is there. He's just gotta be."

That's great, now maybe if you all worked together you'd be able to do something right for once. I was honestly so close to blowing my cover. I also had half a mind to throw my shoe at Shikamaru. He's supposed to be intelligent.

Luckily Yamato somehow managed to get my angry telepathic message and used a wood-style jutsu to keep Sora contained.

Sadly though, Sora tore through it less than a second later.

Is no one in this village actually strong? Maybe I should go get Gaara. If I turned into a dragon it wouldn't take to long.

Sora lashed a tail out at Naruto, and Naruto hit the ground causing a new – much smaller but still painful to create – crater to be formed. I looked back to the others who hadn't moved yet.

Come on guys, don't make me talk to Naruto yet.

Sora stood over Naruto and looked like he was about to deliver the finishing blow. I adjusted my footing and got ready to tackle him over, scales began appearing along my arm just as Shikamaru stepped in. His shadow quickly caught Sora and began winding around his body.

It wasn't cause for celebration though. Shikamaru was drenched in sweat and was breathing hard. I knew he didn't have a lot of stamina but I didn't think he was this bad.

The shadows started to recede off Sora's arm. My scales had my whole arm covered now.

Chouji ran in next, his arm expanding as he went in for a punch. Sora's demonic arm caught his punch and easily threw him back. Sakura began healing him as Naruto yelled at Sora. This fight was going no where fast.

Naruto was struck back against the crater wall, as Lee took his spot. Even his kick was deflected by the increasingly powerful Sora.

Should I go full dragon? Little dragon? Medium? Would Naruto put two and two together? Maybe I should just kill Sora, and put an end to this fight.

Kiba and Akamaru were entering the fight now. And soon they were exiting.

The cloak of chakra was protecting Sora well. At this rate, no one could get through it. Yamato made another attempt, with his jutsu. But it was once again easily overpowered.

I was getting tired of watching our side lose. Shikamaru was half carrying Chouji, Sakura and Ino were were healing Lee and Kiba. They weren't this weak when we were kids. I couldn't remember the last time they were so outclassed by someone their own age.

Haku came to mind, a gentle snow and a caring smile. Haku was special though, he had a kekkai genkai and a lot more training. Sora was raised by monks; his training couldn't have been more than what we'd done.

Naruto clasped his injured arm as he once again made a plea to Sora. He used shadow clones to get close, he grabbed Sora's shoulders and began calling for him to listen.

The cloak began sliding up Naruto's arms as he still begged Sora to come back. By the time, he realized what had happened it was too late. Naruto's nine tail chakras had been activated.

"You idiot!" I screamed, no longer caring who heard.

Yamato used a special jutsu and used the palm of his hand to form a leash of some sort between Naruto's back and his palm. Wooden pillars rose from the ground around the two boys, as Yamato jumped clear to safety.

The chakra leash dissolved quickly and Yamato stood stunned wasting precious seconds.

Naruto's cloak reached three tails and my stomach turned. This couldn't happen. Not again.

Sora and Naruto were locked in combat as Sora's skin began flaking off. The cloak was literally tearing him apart. A blast of intense light almost knocked me out of my tree. It destroyed the wooden pillars and continued to emanate outwards.

I heard Shikamaru's voice telling everyone to run, and I jumped to the ground. I leapt behind the next tree and stayed close to the ground. The smell of burnt wood, the tree limbs cracked under the strain. I peaked out from my hiding spot.

Sora no longer looked human. He head-butted Naruto and sent him flying. On the other side of the crater I could see Asuma fighting an older male, the man looked like he was enjoying himself while Asuma looked like he was having a hard time.

I made a decision. I began moving around the craters rim towards Asuma. If I can't help Naruto, I can at least help Asuma.

I looked back over to Naruto, just in time to see him stab himself in the leg with a shard of rock.

This scene looks familiar…

He really hasn't changed… Somebody needs to take everything sharp away from that guy.

But as I watched him, I could tell the cloak was disappearing.

I shook my head, masochism to the rescue. I edged closer to Asuma, flipping a kunai into my still human hand.

I made eye contact with Asuma and gestured towards the strange man. Asuma shook his head lightly. This was his fight. What an idiot. The man took off into the trees and Asuma followed close behind.

I had to make another decision. Keep an eye on Naruto or run after Asuma.

My decision was made for me, when Sora sent a ball of condensed chakra straight for Naruto and Sakura.

I ran forward taking part of the blow with my scales, before dashing out again. Naruto had shielded Sakura with his body so she was completely unharmed. His back took some of the damage, tearing his coat a little. But it didn't look bad.

I grabbed my arm, the scales in one place had been sheared off leaving red, angry skin beneath. The connective points were bleeding, and stung but at least they were safe.

I landed beside Shikamaru, and held a finger to the masks lips. "Do you have an salve on you?"

He took a look at my arm, and silently reached into his pouch for a small container. Everyone's eyes were on the battlefield and Shikamaru was at the back of the pack. The only other person who saw me was Yamato, he eyed me suspiciously as Shikamaru began bandaging my arm. I bowed lightly before disappearing back into the trees.

"I thought he got off lucky when that blast hit him." Shikamaru mused, "he's lucky she was sticking around."

"Who was she?" Yamato asked.

"An old friend."

Sai's POV

I had escaped the hospital with the help of Akira's students, and had made my way towards the nine-tails chakra. If Naruto was having trouble controlling it, then Akira would most likely be near by. My hunch had been correct and I caught up to her trying to assist Asuma. When the old man fled I could tell she was internally battling with what to do. So I left to deal with Asuma's enemy.

I was crouched in a bush when I saw my opening. "Ninja art: super beast scroll."

The snakes I had drawn with one hand, slithered up the tree and wrapped around the enemy.

"What is this?" He struggled against the snakes but my jutsus were not party tricks as Sasuke put it.

"So tell me, the hospital let you out for a stroll?" Asuma asked.

I scratched my cheek, as I walked over to him. "I had trouble sleeping with all the commotion in the village."

"Isn't that a shame." He walked towards the enemy and addressed him. "Well then, you and I can have a nice leisurely chat, Kazuma."

He pooled his chakra into his chakra blades. I don't believe this counts as leisurely.

"Save your breath, we have nothing more to say to each other."

"Both of us have been mistaken from the beginning. We were both wrong about what a king really is."

"There was no mistake." With a snap of his fingers he escaped my drawings and lunged for Asuma. "I made no mistake."

Asuma was ready though, his chakra blades sharpened beyond human craftsmanship, and with practiced ease. He cut Kazuma down.

Kazuma clung to his life, reaching out across the grass. "But what will happen to the land of fire if I'm gone."

Asuma carefully put his weapons away, "Nothing at all will happen."

Kazuma could barely speak now, he was so close to the afterlife, "That would… be funny."

He died reaching for the strange wrap that Asuma and he seemed to have in common. I could guess, they were on the same team once.

I couldn't understand how Asuma could forgive a traitor, but I suppose it would be similar to how Akira forgave both Evelyeen and myself. Human emotions are so strange sometimes. It looked almost as though Asuma was going to cry.

We were going to wait until Naruto's group finished dealing with Sora before heading back but the circumstances changed. A physical manifestation of the nine-tails head appeared above the clearing.

"We should go." Asuma moved quickly, and I didn't hesitate to follow. Akira was still near the clearing and if it was Naruto that had lost control she'd step into the fight. I glanced at my arm, still useless. I wanted to heal quickly, but I didn't want to eat that candy again.

I wanted to be useful again.

We arrived at the clearing, right as the chakra began dissipating. According to theory, it would be because the chakra concentration wasn't high enough that or it needed a proper jinchuriki like Naruto to fully manifest.

Naruto was laying on the ground, his skin was torn completely off in places leaving patches of red, bleeding under layer. He edged across the ground, using his hands to get closer to Sora. It always amazed me how much pain he could tolerate. Maybe he should eat the healing candy.

Sora opened his eyes as Naruto got closer. "So, you're finally awake."

"Naruto…"

"Are you ready to go home or what?"

Honestly, he looked ready for a hospital. He had even less out skin than Naruto did and considering Naruto had lost most of the skin on his face… In fact, it looked like Sora didn't have any skin left.

"Go home?" Sora whispered. "Are you joking? I don't have a home anymore. Where am I supposed to go?"

"What are you talking about? Here of course, the leaf village is your home now, buddy."

"The leaf? You mean the same village I just tried to destroy?"

Maybe Akira was right, we have low standards for our citizens.

"That's ancient history!"

If by ancient you mean five minutes ago…

Naruto's eyes gleamed as his nose scrunched. "You're our friend. Get that through your head. That's right we're friends. Got that? Don't let anybody ever tell you differently"

I should be writing notes. Apparently, you can be very forceful when making friends. Come to think of it that's what happened with Sasuke and Akira. Naruto might actually be on to something.

"I'm your friend?"

"You bet." Sakura pushed a lock of hair behind her ear as the others gathered around the incredibly injured ninja that they should be healing but aren't. "Oh, Sai."

"Do you mind if I'm a part of this too?" I asked carefully.

"No way Sai." Naruto stared at me, "Beat it."

"But I thought…"

Soon everyone was laughing and I really couldn't understand why. What had I done? Did I miss something? What was so funny about that?

As everyone laughed and chided Naruto, who only admitted he was horrible, a familiar figure appeared behind the pack. She carefully picked her way through the people before gently wrapping her arms around me.

"Akira…" I tilted my head. "What are you –

She faced me and removed her mask.

"Hey, Sai." She kissed my cheek. "Let's get breakfast."

I smiled faintly, "I would like that."

"Whoa wait a minute! Who's she?"

Sakura and I locked eyes and I nodded.

"Naruto, that's Akira."

"What?"

Sakura shook her head. "Our Akira? Team 7? Oh, come on she's just a little older now and you can't even recognize her?"

You could almost hear the clicking in Naruto's brain as he thought for a moment, before it dawned on him. He stood up as best he could and pointed a finger. "Akira!"

"Yeah?" She answered with an arm around my shoulders, spinning the anbu mask on her finger.

"Wha- what – how – how did- what is going on?" He screamed.

"Sai and I are going on a date." She shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first one."

Sora starred bug eyed as Akira turned us and led the way back to town.

"Sakura! Tell me I'm not dreaming. She's not dead?"

"No, I've known that for a while now."

Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru and even Kiba nodded.

"I wonder how Kiba found out." Akira whispered.

"His canine sense of smell perhaps?"

"Hm maybe. Either way Sai, don't pay any attention to what Naruto says. He's just an asshole."

"Ah, alright?" She was acting peculiar. I thought she would have been happy to see him again. But she walked with firm steps, and an evident sneer.

"What an ass. Everyone knows you're not good with people. Listen Sai, they think of you as a friend. But Sasuke and I are your best friends. There's a difference."

"Okay." I would need my notebook again.

Akira's POV

Over the next few days I went to visit Sai in hospital, we talked about recent news in Konoha and Under-Konoha. I talked way more about my students than I think anyone would have liked, but I couldn't help it. They were well-behaved, enjoyable to teach, absorbed every ounce of knowledge I could ever wish to give them. Sai might not have believed they were well behaved after the jounin exams but they were… normally.

"Have you gone to visit Naruto and Sora yet?"

"No…"

"Sora is in his own room now." Sai casually slipped. "Apparently having them both in the same room caused noise complaints to triple."

I smiled and leaned my arms on his bed. "I'll think about visiting Sora. But not Naruto."

His eyes widened and he carefully watched me. "Why? I thought you'd want to see him."

"I do. But I still haven't forgiven him."

"For your injury."

"No! What he said to you, just pisses me off."

"You don't have to get so angry for me. I know now that he was just joking."

"Doesn't make it right." I huffed, as I crossed my arms.

"I think he wants you to visit."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Well, I do want to sleep while I can. It's not often I can relax without missions." He smiled, and scratched his cheek with a finger.

I sighed, "Alright, I get it. I'll go visit the idiots."

"Have fun."

"I can tell when you're mocking me Sai."

I ended up visiting Sora, and at first, he wouldn't really talk to me. So, I told him about Konoha, my team and eventually he started asking me questions.

"Where'd you get that sword from?"

I had hung the sword off the back of the chair as I usually have it strapped to my back or at my side and it was uncomfortable sitting with it.

"My older brother Atticus gave it to me. Soren was furious though. Apparently, it was supposed to be a birthday present but Atticus couldn't wait and gave it to me almost 10 months early."

Sora laughed, before he paused and looked at me closely.

"Something wrong?"

"No." He leaned back, "Just… did you look a little different when you were younger?"

"Hm." I grabbed a lock of hair. "I think so, why?"

"Well, you mentioned a man named Soren." I nodded and he continued. "Did he have lightning chakra?"

"Actually yeah. I never really thought of it as chakra before. We called it magic. He was a mage."

"And he had long, dark hair. A stern look, reddish brown eyes?" What skin I could see on his face was starting to pale.

"Yeah, that's him. Did he talk about me? When did you meet him? Oh he probably called me Ra. He's in love with my brother. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh no reason." He laughed uncomfortably. "He talked about you almost every day when he was in the temple."

"He went to the temple?"

"Yeah, you didn't know? He said he was looking for a way to get rid of a curse. He was looking to save you."

"I didn't know… I knew he'd left town a couple years before I uh left. But I didn't think he was searching for a cure or something."

"He also mentioned if I ever meet you, I'm not allowed to come near you."

"Sounds like Soren… Don't worry. He'll never know."

"…I might need a name for the afterlife soon." He mumbled.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing."

I continued to visit Sai and Sora until the day came when he decided it was time to leave the village. Sakura, Yamato, Naruto, Sai and myself all gathered to see him off.

"So, you're really not going back to the fire temple?"

"No, I think I wanna see a bit more of the world and meet different kinds of people. And make – or try to make- new friends. Like you have."

"Good plan." Naruto agreed.

"Be sure to come back once in a while, okay?" Sakura added. "You know you'll always be welcome here in the leaf village. Don't ever forget that."

"That's right, anytime." Yamato smiled. I still wasn't sure what to think of him. I could have sworn his name was Tenzo. I'd have to ask Kakashi again. Either way, not a lot of trust for him.

Sora laughed, "Thanks a lot. Oh, and Naruto, a word of advice."

"Yeah what is it?"

"Don't touch Ra. She's out of your league." He laughed again. "If someone like you ever got to close to her, you really would need a name for the afterlife."

"A -what? Wait, you mean Akira? Why do you call her Ra?"

"Because I was told to keep her safe if I ever saw her. I'm as close to her as family."

Sure…

"He's right." I nodded. "If Soren trusts him, then Sora's basically family."

Sora snickered, "Well, so long." He walked out the main gate only to pause mid step. "Would you tell old Asuma good bye for me?"

"Of course." I nodded.

"Got it." Naruto gave him a thumb up.

"Oh, and the next time you see me I'll have thought of a name you can use for the afterlife."

"Hey, wait a second, I found out that afterlife means after you're dead!"

"Took you long enough, you idiot." Sora ran off laughing, "See ya."

After he left, I turned to Sai. "Sai. Do I have bad taste in men?"

"If by that, you mean Soren would never approve of any of your primary choices. Then yes. You have awful taste."

"You're just as bad."

"I see nothing wrong with my taste."

"Right… Ah shoot."

"What is it?"

"I forgot to ask Shikamaru if Asuma and Kurenai liked their house."

Sai shook his head. "You can ask when you get back. You promised your students a two night, 3-day training camp remember?"

"…Why did I agree to that?"

"Hanabi's diplomatic, Jiodo is practical, and Kaito is …. Kaito."

"All very accurate. I guess I'll see you when I get back."

We parted ways, and I packed my bags. I told Kakashi what was going on and then picked up the kids. I had no idea that on my return my tiny village would be going to arms.