Getting Past his Lamentation: Chapter 7 (Epilogue)

Well, this is the last. As expected of course. It's a sad, sad thing when a good story is done (or even if you thought it was mediocre) Sigh. It's been a good 3-4 weeks with this story so let me wrap it up and move on to other stories.

7.

A blond man walked along the roadway in silent contemplation. It's been a long time since he did this last. He was by no means a brooder, although he used to be one. He had come a long way since that day she died; he has let go of all that emotional baggage, surliness and indifference.

It took him ten years to get over the first death. The burden had only increased over that time as each person died. They were all precious people; those he had sworn to protect, to die for in a blink of an eye if needs be. He no longer had that notion. Well, he did, but that rather large circle of people he would die for had been drastically reduced. He had more important responsibilities now.

Very important responsibilities.

He would perform his utmost best to keep them safe.

He would die for them.

No less was expected of him.

Flashback

He was in his office at home, drawing his latest seal. It was going to be a breakthrough in Fuinjutsu, being second only to the Flying Thunder God technique. So it was no surprise that when he was interrupted by a knock at the door, he was a bit annoyed. But that never lasted more than a minute; she usually made it up to him.

She was a fantastic kisser.

"Come in, Hanabi-chan. This is as much your home as it is mine, y'know."

The door opened to reveal his wife, Hanabi. She had twenty seven winters behind her. She was still unbelievably attractive with her unique and superb personality to boot. She was the best woman in the whole world and if no one else thought so, she was the best woman for him; none else came close. But that's not what he was focusing on now.

There were a few tears still running down her face.

Naruto frowned. It couldn't have been a physical hurt. It couldn't have been a mood swing; it was far too early, still in the first trimester. 'I wonder if it has to do with what the news carrier came to tell.' He gave a mental sigh. 'No news is good news. Truer words have never been spoken.'

"It's about Asuka-neechan."

Naruto considered for a moment. "Your surrogate sister?"

For years, in fact, two months after her kidnapping, Hanabi had taken a liking to a Main branch Hyuuga by the name of Asuka. Contrary to the usual clan attitude, the girl had many of the attributes that Hinata had embodied like kindness and a bit of introversion and such. It was probably for this very reason why Hanabi loved her like a sister. She reminded her of her deceased sister, but in a good way.

Hanabi nodded slowly. "The news bearer just told me that she was killed. A scouting team found her two days ago."

Naruto jumped up, causing some of his previously interrupted work to fall to the floor. Normally, he would have cared what happened to it, but this wasn't a normal time.

"How?" he was trying to be a 'shoulder support' right now. If she needed to release her sadness through tears, let her do it. She was still the strongest person he knew. After all, if he was the strongest shinobi and she could tell him what to do, then he was second; it was as simple as that.

"She was stabbed in the heart and had a punctured lung. But worst of all, her eyes were stolen…"

He hugged her. He didn't want her to think about it too much. If she dwelled on it for much longer, it might sour her disposition. He was by no means a medical expert, but he wasn't too sure what sorrowful emotions could do to a developing fetus. It's only been six weeks.

But he had to know. Asuka was also an excellent family friend. This was the kind of person who couldn't make enemies, even if she tried. She had even offered to be a godmother to their future child. He gritted his teeth. He let a single tear flow undeterred. But only a single one. He had to be a fortress, a comforting being for Hanabi. For his wife, he had to be strong.

He had to know.

"Where?" he whispered almost inaudibly. The woman was sure that the only reason why she heard was because his mouth was two inches for her ear.

For the love of Kami, they better not, oh, they had better not, cause if they did…

"It was in Kirigakure."

Naruto's muscles had started to become taut when she started at the letter 'K' (For Kirigakure.). He was sure that it could have been Kumogakure. This was right up their alley. But when she fished saying the village name, he relaxed. It was almost unnoticeable for his spouse. She believed that he thought Kumo was responsible. But…

"She was found with the rest of her squad close to the border of Kiri and Kumo. I believe it could have been missing Nins." She said in a soft tone.

Naruto's eyes snapped open from half-lidded to wide open.

One Week Later

He walked softly in his bare feet through the halls. It had been a fairly good spar. She had the pregnancy as a small handicap in a sense, and a huge advantage over him in another.

He had to remain purely on defense, no counters, strike backs, parries. Nothing. Just unadulterated moving. He couldn't touch her, or even attempt to, in fear of harming his unborn son. (He betted the gender with Hanabi. She betted girl, of course.) And all she had to do was throw everything she had at him. He made for good practice, what with being a moving and near invincible target.

As a result, she was all tuckered out, and he was carrying her back to their room bridal style. While he made his way there, he was greeted by several servants that had been loyal to his family name for a long time now. They were mostly orphans he was giving a second chance (He cared for them deeply, sending them to school and things like that) and they were like family to him. So it was no surprise when after he passed them he sometimes heard whispers of bad wordplay jokes about him. It was all in jest and he would laugh at the jokes, if only he wasn't the brunt of it.

"He went too hard on her," came the soft whisper.

Naruto grinned. At least it helped to calm his nerves, pulling away his attention on things he shouldn't think about. He finally reached their room and made a clone seallessly and wordlessly. The clone opened the door and the original stepped inside the bedroom. The clone, having performed his function dispersed himself. Naruto gently laid his wife down on the bed and pulled the covers up to her neck before kissing her once on the forehead, silently wishing her sweet dreams. He then quietly left the room and made his way to his study. While in there, he kissed her forehead, silently wishing her sweet dreams. He then quietly left the room and made his way to his study. On arriving, he sat in his usual seat, placed his elbows on the table and rested his lower jaw and chin in the palms of his hands. It had been a somewhat troublesome week.

The whole time, there was some edged tension in the home. Anything that could or would remind her of Asuka would either cause Hanabi to tear up or just sadden her normally bright or playful demeanor. Not even he had had much time to grieve, only to have a little closure over her body in the morgue; it was only two days ago they had buried her. He had to use some veto power in the village to get to bury her on his land. He figured that it was the least he could do. No way was he going to allow her to become just another grave in the Hyuuga compound.

At the morgue, his anger nearly went over the edge when he saw the blindfold over where her eyes were supposed to be. The blind fold was a bit sunken where her eyes should be, letting the viewer know she was eyeless. Remembering it now, he let it boil over, knowing that he was no longer in public. His rage now let him see red, knowing that it could have been Hanabi. But what if it were her next time? She would probably resume some shinobi duties when the children had suitable enough age to look after themselves. What if he wasn't around? His future children could be born with the byakugan in the future. (She was the clan head now and since she had abolished most of the authority the elders had, it was alright for most Hyuuga to pursue relationships outside the clan. She had to or she and Naruto would have had to separate, being two separate clan heads.) What would stop them from being targets, if not just for being his children. Even now he himself was being still targeted by Iwa Nin, even though Kurotsuchi herself had told them not to. (If they wanted to, it was their funeral.) Sins of the previous generation are paid by the next one.

And that was when he decided. They were too dangerous to be left to interfere with his life and future generations of his family. He had come to find peace in his life and he was prepared to take it up on himself to murder, kill, and decimate thousands just for a few people. Very few people but the most important to him. His Hanabi, who he loved with all of his being, and his children who were yet to be born. He had to. Besides, a promise is a promise and a threat is only an extension of a deadly promise.

He keeps his promises.

The time had come for him to meditate on his mental acuity, sharpen his kunais, prepare his seals, focus his chakra and make his way to Kumogakure to right some wrongs.

In the Capital of Kumo

It had been a fairly ordinary day in the central point in the Land of Lightening. It was now dusk and all the average day-today activities had come to a close. But there was a sense of disturbance in the air. For some reason, everyone got the feeling of premonition. There were no exceptions to that rule. It had all been fine until now. Some of them shook off the feeling, assuming that all will be remedied with a good night's rest.

Assumed.

Shoppers now made their way home, most of them hurriedly; they were unsettled. Wives shut their kitchen windows, keeping in the smell of their cooking; they were concerned for their families. The husbands went home early, making sure all were in the home before securely locking it; they were agitated. The children ate and went to bed early; they were scared. The old people nodded their heads in understanding; their years of experience granting them knowledge…

That there would be a vengeful spirit out tonight, and they took comfort knowing that they would be safe from its wrath…

It would kill those who bore the brunt of its anger, and kill all those who got in its way.

The Daimyo got the sudden feeling; he was… afraid. Everyone in his regality room felt it. It reminded them of the incident around six years ago when they were all knocked unconscious by an unseen force. They all got the felling that it would be back; they just weren't sure if it would be that merciful this time. They were all scared but they tried to hide it with stoic faces, trying to keep up a 'brave' façade for the man in charge.

The Daimyo.

The man who had doubled his usual guards one hour ago.

And then tripled that half an hour ago.

It would not bode well if they looked scared as well.

With Naruto

The thirty- two year old stood on top of a Watch Post tower, one of the highest structures in the Capital. He had been leaking killing intent on a widespread scale. No one person was focused on; everyone felt it, albeit weak if done so. Below he could see people going home, probably to retire early.

He nodded in morbid satisfaction. They were smart. He wouldn't harm them. Contrary to what he had threatened the Daimyo six years ago was somewhat true. Back then when he was still the 'heartless bastard' he would have done it. Right now, he was struggling to keep himself from falling into that state.

He was failing.

Every time he saw Hanabi's smiling face in his mind's eye, he thought that he would only kill the person responsible for the death of who was responsible as well as the Daimyo.

And Every time he saw Hanabi's eyeless corpse in his mind's eye in place of Asuka, he thought he would kill all inhabitants in the Land of Lightening and torture the Daimyo.

He now remembers one of the Pervy-sage's sayings. 'He who tries to walk two paths will split himself in two.'

He came up with a compromise.

1. Kill the Daimyo.

2. Kill the Raikage, whether he authorized the kill or not.

3. All military who tried to attack him or interfere would get a quick death.

It was simple.

He tapped a seal on a sash at his waist with some chakra. Instantly, a facial mask similar to the one Kakashi once wore came out. He quickly put it on and drew the hood of his clothing over his head. He was now incognito.

He leapt off the tower. Performing the action gave him a feeling of Déjà vu, reminiscing of six years ago. He formed a cross handseal and created six clones who also freefell with him.

"Remember. No unique techniques or jutsu that will hint to my identity," He ordered. "Support me when necessary."

"Hai." (x6)

Thirty yards before reaching ground, they all performed a simultaneous jutsu.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

The used more chakra than required for the technique. A massive wind billowed below them, slowing their fall considerably, allowing them to land safely.

"Let's get the Daimyo."

The group of seven started running towards the palace. About thirty seconds from the palace, they all took out tantos granted to them being replicas of the original.

Naruto was by no means a professional at kenjutsu but when you're the fastest man in all the elemental countries, it didn't matter. If you had skills in kenjutsu sky-high but still slower than your opponent, the results were simple. No matter how much you parried, countered or diverted, if you can't even see the slash of your enemy's, you were going to die.

And he was counting on that.

The UzuNamikaze ran straight into the palace without missing a beat. Along the way, he met a few half-assed efforts to stop him by several members of the tree branches of the military. (Castle Guards and soldiers, Samurai, Shinobi) They had somehow knew in some part of their minds that they were going to die tonight but they were honor-bound and ordered to try and stop him.

They didn't get the preferred end result.

A slash here, a swipe there. A stab here, a beheading there. It didn't make much difference. A kill was a kill to him. It was a profession. But this did not make him feel better. But with every kill, Hanabi's corpse in his mind got a little better. Every kill made her deathly pale complexion come back. Every beheading in particular made her awful grimace of death turn very slowly, so very slowly into her beautiful smile. The one he practically lived for everyday.

It sometimes scared him now for his present mentality.

He and his clones continued to wipe out any and all resistance on his way the Daimyo's Regality room. Soon, the amount of them that normally came in groups soon trickled to only coming in duos, and finally in singles.

"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic murder!"

The seven clones merely body flickered to the sides, dodging the jutsu as they ran past him. At first the Kumo shinobi was confused as to why they let him be.

Five seconds later, everything from his mouth upwards slid off his lower jaw. He toppled in a crumpled heap, nothing more than dead man.

Finally making it to his desired location, (not a wrinkle or bloodstain anywhere on him) he started to walk calmly to the Leader of the Land of Lightning. All the shinobi and samurai around the room leapt to intercept the man, trying to stop the man from approaching their King. But every weapon, every jutsu and every man was interloped by the clones who killed all who went on the offensive. During this, he continued to stroll calmly up to the Daimyo who sat confidently on the throne. It was strange seeing the man posturing like that, when his men was dying all around him, as if they were nothing more than insignificant pawns on a chessboard.

He finished his journey to the throne; by now, all opposition were lying in their own blood puddles on the ground.

All that time, the Daimyo smirked in his smug expression.

"Welcome, UzuNamikaze." His voice was oozing pride.

"Cut the bullshit. You know why I'm here."

"No. I don't know." His tone was so condescending it made Naruto want to vomit.

Naruto placed his tanto in its sheathe. "Six years."

"Hmm?" The leader raised a questioning eyebrow.

"For six years, no Konoha ninja were killed. And I know for a fact that no Kumo ninja were killed by Konoha forces either. We got by without deaths, each side fighting to knock each other unconscious instead of killing blows. I looked the other way because I knew it would have been extreme to wipe out an entire country if two from different sides had a fistfight. And yet…"

The Daimyo's expression became surly.

"You killed a Hyuuga, just for her eyes."

The man leapt to his feet. Even though he was half a foot shorter than his oppressor, his demeanor indicated that he was trying to stare him down.

"And who are you to judge? You barge into my chambers, puffing up your chest at me, as if you are a righteous person? Do you have any idea how we suffered after the stunt you pulled? We were flat out penniless, our emergency fund in our treasury was exhausted in two years. Families starved to death, children resorted to pick pocketing, old people shoplifting grocery stores, all expecting to get away scot free by giving some sob story! And all the stories are the same!"

Naruto knew. He knew.

"I was and I'm still aware. If you hadn't forgotten your creed that comes with your office, you wouldn't have kidnapped my wife all those years ago. You forced my hand. Did you expect me to look the other way, turn a blind eye to her capture? I may have some ideals, but I am not above publicly humiliating others when they have committed a serious wrong."

His clones gathered in the middle of the room behind the two men, standing in a straight line across facing them.

"Let me tell you something you didn't know. I used my political standings, my status as the fourth great Shinobi War's Hero and pulled some strings in the other elemental nations. I got them to start dealing and trading with Lightning Country again when I learned that the country was in desperate times. People don't really forget; most people still remember the incident. How else did you think that you started to be able to protract yourselves? Did you just think that your badgering and pestering of the other Daimyo finally got you the support you needed? The boycott probably would have lasted ten to fifteen years, instead of four to five." Naruto explained.

The Daimyo widened his eyes. Now he recalled the sheer reluctance that practically rolled of the other Daimyo at their last meeting when he was entreating them for help. But before he could say anything, Naruto continued.

"I know that I am not righteous; I have too many sins on my shoulders. I know I'm not perfect; I have too many flaws. I know I'm not honorable; I also deal in deceit. I am a shinobi. My profession entails that I kill for money. Nothing more, nothing less."

Suddenly, a large arm and fist caught Naruto in the neck and pile-drived him into the ground, raising dust and debris in the palace.

"LARIAT!"

The Raikage smirked as he regarded his adversary in a huge human shaped crater. "UzuNamikaze! You will die here today!" He shouted, looking down into the hole. He could see that he was down, but not out.

Not by a long shot.

Naruto leapt out of the hole, determined give him what was coming to him rose out of the ground with a fist aimed for the raikage's chin, akin to the chunin exams when he squared off against Neji.

The Raikage almost seemed bored. He caught the fist in his own larger one, and proceeded to clench it inside his own. He didn't get the satisfaction of hearing bones cracking in his grasp. Naruto leapt off the ground and placed both feet on his opponent's chest and pushed off of it in a double dragon kick, making A release his hand.

Naruto back flipped in the air and landed neatly on the ball of his feet and glared. He did not expect to go versus the man now. It would have been later on his own terms, but not now when he was going to sort out the corrupted leader of Lightning Country.

The Raikage noticed the glare, closed his eyes and laughed. "You humiliated me years ago." His expression grew serious. "I am going to kill you, UzuNamikaze!" He shook his fist in a threatening manner and opened his eyes again forcefully.

The action received Naruto's attention and drew his gaze to the man's eyes. He gasped.

The Byakugan.

The Raikage must have had both of the eyes implanted as his own in an effort to boost his combat prowess.

His anger climbed to the surface. For a second, he nearly lost his cool but he kept it. He could only console himself that he would remove the eyes forcefully. He nodded to the clones and blinked his eyes forcefully at them once. They understood the silent order and shunshinned off somewhere. Naruto sighed mentally. He was really looking forward to spending some time with Hanabi tonight. 'Looks like that would have to wait 'till tomorrow,' he thought offhandedly.

He dropped in a running man stance and sprinted in a blur at the Raikage in a blur. "You're nothing more than a thief!"

The Raikage disappeared in flicker of imagery and punched Naruto in the gut and then back fisted him in the jaw. "And you're nothing more than an insect of a man, much less a shinobi!"

Naruto flew away at the force of the impact into the opposite wall. "Gah!" 'I don't have any unoriginal moves that are widely known. The only moves that can beat him are moves that everyone can identify with me. I could use them, seeing as that only these two will see it. They won't live to tell the tale anyway.' He thought grimly.

"Kill him!" The Daimyo rooted for Kage to kill Naruto.

The double Clan Head created sixteen clones who all shunshinned to cardinal points in the room. Each group of four created Great ball rasengan that was orbited by three regular rasengans.

"Kill A!" The order was given.

A dozen of the clones disappeared, leaving four clones who each of which leapt at the Raikage.

"Planetary Rasengan!"

The Raikage smirked, just a second before they all collided with him at the focal point. All of the attacking spiraling spheres of chakra grinded against each other, resulting in a plume of a massive chakra explosion.

The remaining two people shielded their eyes from the flying dust that ensued and tried to stare through the cracks between their fingers to see what the end result was. For a fleeting moment, Naruto wished he had the byakugan so he could see through the dust. He envisioned his wife again but this time he wondered if she x-rayed his clothes. Sometimes he would catch her with her byakugan on for no good reason and she was a bit perverted.

He chuckled despite the situation he was in.

"And what are you smiling about?"

A stood behind him in his Lightning armor. Naruto didn't even have time to react before man punched him six times sin the gut so fast it felt like one. Naruto started to fly backwards from the force but A reappeared behind him and clenched his hands together and performed a double axe handle to the UzuNamikaze's head, straight into the ground.

"Liger Bomb!" The man poured an insane amount of chakra into the attack, so much so that if someone were to die from the attack, that was the LEAST it could have done to them. The explosion rocked the capital, and the palace's foundation finally gave way, making the whole thing collapse. A grabbed the Daimyo and sped out of the falling rubble. They made it outside, just in time to see that the building cave in on itself.

The man laughed in celebration of their adversary's death. While the Daimyo was sorry about the palace, he took comfort knowing that it would be the UzuNamikaze's tomb.

"Stop laughing. He's still alive. I can see his chakra signature."

"W-w-what?!"

The Raikage pointed at his eye, byakugan still activated. "I see all, with the All-seeing Eye! He cannot hide from me!"

"T-then why are you so happy?! You should be killing him!" the Daimyo retorted angrily. He was not going to last long if the UzuNamikaze decided to switch to him mid battle. While he was confident that the strongest kage alive in his opinion could stop hum and end him, it still couldn't guarantee his own safety. He himself almost died as collateral damage in the last attack from the Raikage himself.

The big man did not answer. He instead squinted his eyes and frowned. The Daimyo noticed and asked what the matter was.

"I… I can't see him anymore."

Seven Narutos strolled out of the dust-fogged site, all of them with orange eye shadow and horizontal pupils.

The Daimyo gasped. "He's right there! Seven of him! And their eyes look like frogs eyes!" he immediately ran to a large slab of concrete and cowered behind it.

Naruto felt the need to laugh. "Like Toad's eyes. This is my sage mode."

A's eyes widened. 'Sage mode? I can sense his chakra levels increase exponentially. But, I can't see his chakra! In fact, I can't see him at all!' "Why can't I see YOU!" he yelled in frustration.

"I prepared myself for this eventuality. In the event I had to go against the person who stole Asuka's eyes, I would use a seal that I recently created to stop the byakugan from seeing my chakra. Since you can't see my chakra, which is all the byakugan sees, you can't see me. And since the eyes you stole arte permanently activated…" Naruto disappeared in a blink and gave an almighty punch to the Raikage's jaw, shattering it. "…You're blind to me."

The dark skinned man now realized the dire situation he was in. he couldn't see him with the eyes. He couldn't see him without eyes. He couldn't ask the daimyo to get involved because his eye weren't trained to follow someone as fast as Naruto. Even if he did, it would have been a severe handicap, not to mention that he could spam clones almost indefinitely. This was a battle…

…That he could not win.

All of the seven Narutos disappeared in a burst of speed and they all started using taijutsu and started punching, kicking and using senjutsu force on the man, knocking him to each other, almost resembling a game of pinball. In little to no time at all, the man was a bloodied mess and every clone was smeared with his blood on their bludgeoning fists and feet. The man pleaded and begged for mercy.

He received none.

Naruto continued to beat him within an inch of his life. Almost all of his bones were cracked, and his vitals kept intact. He wanted to keep him alive for as long as possible.

When he didn't even deserve to even live at all.

Finally, he grew tired of killing him slowly and let the clones stop hitting him, letting the man finally lose speed that had kept him airborne and descended to the ground in a heap. His momentum was still enough to make him slide a little further, just short of reaching Naruto's position. The blond crouched down at looked at the man smirked.

"Heh Heh. Now you know what broken glass feels like."

The dark-skinned man did not attempt an answer.

Naruto reached down and pulled out the man's eyes right out of his head and sealed it away. The air was filled with the A's throaty scream which was heard only by those already present. (Jaw broken). The Daimyo was horrified at the scene. Never before seeing something of this nature, the man retched to one side.

Naruto created a bunshin imbued with fire release chakra who proceeded to grab the man and make him stand up forcefully. All the Sage-mode clones and Naruto himself came closer, all at an equal distance to the Raikage in middle and stood sideways to the man.

All of them had their right arms across their chests as if in a pledge. "So this is how it ends, A. any last words?"

A recognized what he was doing and panicked. The Raikage made some gurgled sounds that sounded a bit like 'Spare me please', but Naruto didn't care.

"For the safety of my future children," Naruto began.

The fire clone who still held up A stated igniting his flesh, slowly burning the man alive.

"And for those who you may prey on in the future…" All the clones closed their eyes.

A screeched gutturally.

"…I sentence you to death."

There was a brief pause in which all went quiet, save for the burning of A's flesh.

Naruto's eyes exploded open, revealing the rinnegan. All of the clones did so as well, all Narutos flung their arms forward in the direction of the Lightening shadow and the fire bunshin who dispelled.

In the short second in which A stood, all of them yelled.

"SHINRA TENSEI!"

The seven localized and concentrated jutsus all met each other with A in the middle. The man was suddenly compressed from seven directions and exploded from the action in a deluge of crimson.

To keep injury from himself, Naruto kept his Shinra tensei up for another second and slightly increased its power and range, finally disposing of his clones and keep the scarlet shower off of himself. In the aftermath, Naruto sighed.

It was over.

There was the sound of someone vomiting.

Perhaps…not quite over yet.

UzuNamikaze saw the daimyo hurling whatever was left in his stomach at the gruesome death. His eyes widened when he saw Naruto focus his attention on him.

The man jumped up and started running away, screaming for help.

At first, Naruto had considered giving the man a quick death, but seeing that the man was far from humble, he was going to do what he had threatened him the first time.

With that thought, he started to walk after the screaming man.

Flashback over

He shook his head in head, trying to regain his focus and stop thinking about fourteen years ago. He composed himself and went on his guard again. He was almost there but for a ninja; those who kept their guard lived the longest.

He walked on for another one hundred meters and made a right turn onto path that was little better than a foot beaten track. He knew he was almost there. There was a long row of trees which he walked between with a sigh of relief.

There was fairly large clearing that was bordered on one side by a river with a waterfall and on the other by a variety of fruit trees. He almost shed a tear. He had it all to himself.

"Tou-san!"

He closed his eyes and smiled. Almost all, anyway.

Twin eight year old brunette girls flew into his stomach, tackling him to the ground. "Tou-san. You made it!"

The man grinned. "Of course I did! Nothing could keep me away from you two! You're my favorite girls!"

"Egh hem." Someone cleared their throat audibly.

Naruto chuckled nervously, noticing his wife's shadow casting over him, giving one the impression that she was angry. "Besides your Kaa-chan, of course!" He grinned sheepishly and got up with his two daughters hanging onto him as if he were a tree.

Hanabi's eyes softened and she leaned him and kissed him, making him go weak in the knees. "You're forgiven."

Naruto shuddered in the after pleasure, almost making him collapse. 'How does she do that without even trying?!' "You're amazing, beautiful, stunning and wonderful, hime! You know that no one can take your place!"

The beautiful woman gave a coy smirk and tried to hug him in a welcome. But the darned kids kept getting in the way.

"Passion, Kasai, Kaa-chan and I need some privacy." Naruto said in a playful voice with a slight warning undertone.

The girls showed their tongues in a taunt, squealed and ran away. "Ewww!"

Naruto dropped himself onto his bottom in the soft grass. A second later Hanabi plopped himself in his lap with legs to one side. "I thought you weren't going to make it."

"I was busy with work."

"Don't you use your clones to do that for you?"

"How do you know that I'm not a clone?" he smirked.

She punched him playfully on one shoulder. "I know that you can't resist me. You wouldn't send a clone to do something you would want to do."

He raised an eyebrow. "Want to do?"

She blushed a little at her own wording. "I meant it in every sense of the word."

Now it was his turn to blush. "Ugh…um." For the love of Kami, he couldn't even get his sentences out right! She smiled gently and tried to kiss him again. But before she finished closing the distance, a bright yellow flash came into being. When it disappeared, one could see that newcomer had his head between Hanabi's and Naruto's, making the woman kiss his cheek.

Naruto's eyes widened. "Agh! 'Senkō'! You stole my kiss!"

The Naruto look alike teleported away, but not before having a fit of laughter.

"'Senkō' really takes after his father, doesn't he?"

Naruto stopped his 'agitation.' "Hai. Arashi does indeed. He can spam that technique even more than his grandfather."

"I never met him though."

"He said that he loves of all of us."

"One of these days we're going to find a way for us to enter your mindscape so we can all meet your parents."

"For some reason, he and Kaa-chan never left my mind. Perhaps it has something to do with the chibi fox still in my mindscape. In any case, let's have that picnic. I'm starving."

"Good thing that there's enough of me to satisfy you."

Naruto started sputtering again.

And that's all for Getting past his Lamentation, cresting 17k words, more than I originally predicted, even if it's just a little. (Sighs.) Sorry it took so long and I hope that the ending didn't fall below your expectations. I had fun with this fic and I hope that you enjoyed reading it.

My short pairing story career has started and my next assignment is…

Matsuri.

Wish me luck, people! I hope I will not disappoint. That's all folks.

Valete omnes,

MRAY 4TW.