Hey! Check it out! I was inspired! Thanks for all the support, everyone!

P.S. If I haven't answered your question, it's because I plan on covering that later on in the story. So just sit back and enjoy.

Watchman landed softly, bending his knees to absorb the shock of impact. He held his pose for a long moment, his head bowed as he listened to the echoing wails.

The ronin writhed like a worm on a hook as his trembling hands hovered over the golden staff sticking out of his chest. Fresh blood coated the intricate etchings and dulled the weapon's brilliance.

A wretched, wet cough abruptly tore its way out of his throat with alarming violence, cutting off his wails and leaving his lips tinged red.

He quieted down after that, as though he finally realized that his struggles were only hastening his trip towards the inevitable conclusion. So he dragged his feet, and let himself be dragged there, one raspy breath at a time.

An uneasy quiet settled down around them, broken only by the ronin's wheezing. Seeing this, Watchman climbed to his feet and quietly began his trek to his downed opponent's side.

They watched him go, and shared a look.

"Let's follow him," Sakura suggested, grimacing slightly even as the words left her mouth. She had no desire to see anyone's last moments, but at this point they needed to focus on getting as much information as possible.

Ino's expression closed off. "Sakura…" she began and stopped in the same breath.

Sakura already knew that she wasn't going to like what came next.

Ino's pale blue eyes trailed Watchman's back for a few of his strides, and her expression solidified. "Maybe we should think of going back? This could be our last chance."

Sakura sighed. This again? "Ino, I'm going to find Naruto. With or without you."

Ino had clearly expected that answer, but that didn't stop her from looking at sky and releasing a high-pitched grunt colored with long-suffering frustration. "Why are you being so stubborn? The mission's over Sakura!"

Sakura couldn't hide the slight smile that curved her lips as she picked up the opportunity to correct her oldest friend. "It isn't, actually. We haven't delivered the information yet."

Ino's glare did nothing to dim her smile. "Then why? Why are you so set on doing this, even when you know that we're jeopardizing the mission with every moment that we spend here? This place is enemy territory, Sakura!" she yelled.

Sakura noticed Watchman turn to face them, but paid him no more attention as Ino counted out their faults.

"We've got no equipment and we don't have the skills we'd need to handle a naked infiltration! We're just genin! We aren't qualified to do this, and trying to do it anyway will probably end up getting us both killed!"

Sakura's smile slowly grew into a grin. Ino was making perfect sense.

But it didn't matter. She knew what she had to do.

Ino seemed offended by her negligence. "This isn't funny, Sakura! Are you even taking this seriously? We have bodies here, remember? I don't know what'll happen if we—"

She stopped listening. She brushed her short hair behind her ear and recalled the events that led to her haircut.

"Ino, did I ever tell you the story of my squad's genin test?"

Ino paused in mid-tirade and eyed her oddly. She shook her head confusedly. "What does that have to do with—"

"It sounded simple, at first," Sakura interrupted. "Two bells, three genin. If you had a bell, you were a genin. If you didn't… you weren't. Simple. Sensei attached the bells to his belt and told us to give it our all. Sasuke and I went into the woods to hide, and Naruto followed the most direct path possible to the prize: a straight line."

Ino snorted despite herself.

Sakura smiled softly. "It didn't work out. For any of us, really. Sensei spent the next few hours showing us how inadequate we were and when it was over he brought us to the hero memorial and tied Naruto to a log for performing the worst out of us three. None of us had managed to get a bell. Our failure was monumental, and Sensei took great pleasure in educating us on our failings."

"Get on with it…" Ino muttered.

Sakura cracked a wry grin, but didn't bother to respond. "He told us that we had failed to put into practice one of the most fundamental elements of the ninja arts: A ninja must put aside personal interests for the sake of the mission."

Ino wasn't about to let that one pass. She leapt up, yelling, "Then why—"

Sakura gestured for her to stop. "He told us that it would be better for us to give up on being ninja entirely, but that if we were brave enough he'd give us another shot after lunch, only this time he wasn't going to hold back. Now, Sensei had told us the day before that if we ate anything we'd puke it up during the test, so none of us had eaten breakfast."

Sakura shook her head. "We were all pretty hungry, but Naruto was still tied to the post. To make things worse, Sensei forbade us from giving him any food. He specifically told us that the person who fed him would fail the test instantly. Then, he left alone to wallow in our despair."

Ino frowned. "Your teacher's kind of a jerk, Sakura."

Sakura smiled and didn't deny that. "Five minutes after he started watching us eat, Naruto's stomach made this wail of agony and despair. He tried to play it off, but it was obvious he was starving. So, Sasuke-kun offered him some food."

Ino raised an eyebrow. "You just said—"

Sakura continued. "Me and Naruto freaked out, but Sasuke-kun was pretty sure that Sensei wasn't anywhere near us and Naruto was going to be completely useless if he didn't eat anything. So we gave him some food, and the second after he swallows, Sensei pops out of nowhere spewing fire and brimstone."

Ino winced.

Sakura looked Ino in the eye. "You know what he told us?"

Ino shook her head.

"He said congratulations! You passed."

Ino's mouth cracked open. "What? Why?"

She smiled. It was a lesson she would never forget.

"He said, a ninja who abandons his mission is trash—"

"But a ninja who abandons his comrades is worse than trash." Watchman's voice echoed hers as she completed Kakashi's edict.

She turned to look at him and found him staring blankly in their direction, with an odd expression on his face. Conflict raged on his features, but settled down as soon as he noticed her attention. He nodded thoughtfully, then turned back and left for the ronin's side.

Ino's sigh brought her attention back. The blonde gently rubbed the bridge of her nose and tried another tack. "I'm not asking you to abandon him, Sakura! But maybe you should think about what's best for Naruto?"

She shook her head. "This is the best choice, Ino. We can't go back and get reinforcements, there's no time! And judging by the ronin's sword I'd say we can get equipment onsite."

Ino tried to say something else, but she was done talking about this. "I'm not going back, Ino, not until I find him, but if you want to go then I won't stop you. Hokage-sama should know what's going on."

Ino snorted and shook her head, then walked off towards the injured ronin. "That's the stupidest thing you've said all day."

She huffed. "You could've just said no."

The ronin lied motionless at Watchman's feet, breathing as best he could with a gold staff lodged in his chest. His eyes were opened wide and twitched everywhere, with his pupils gaping like a gate blown off of its hinges.

Watchman sighed as he knelt facing his mutilated opponent. "Sorry. I missed."

The swordsman's lips twitched. "Doesn't feel like it," he rasped.

Watchman grinned. "I was aiming for your heart, wanted to give you a quick death."

"Heh," the ronin laughed. "A little while ago I wouldn't have appreciated the effort."

Watchman watched him with a curious eye for a long moment. "I'm surprised," he said, finally. "Not going to curse me out with your last breath?"

The ronin shook his head. "I gave it my all, and lost. Let me die with dignity."

Their guide leaned his chin on his palm. "Well, aren't you cool?"

"Go to hell," the ronin said, tiredly.

Watchman snorted. "You first."

An innocuous detail captured her attention as Watchman shuffled about, settling down into a more comfortable position.

The ronin's extremities had stopped trembling.

Watchman leaned over his twin's face. "You can't see me, can you?"

The scruffy ronin wrinkled his face. "My nose still functions. I'll thank you to keep your distance."

Her eyebrows started to twitch as Watchman obliged, with a childish pout on his lips. "Aren't you going to ask him anything important?"

He turned to her, surprised. "Eh?"

She sighed. She could never really follow Naruto's train of thought. As far as she could tell, efficiency just wasn't a priority to him. As it turned out, his copies weren't much different. "What's this then, if not an interrogation?"

He blinked at the question then looked away. He shrugged. "I dunno. I thought I could keep him company, you know? I don't think he should die alone."

She didn't know what to say to that.

Ino took a step into his personal space, snatching his attention fully onto her. "So he's not coming back to life?" she questioned.

Watchman frowned. "No, of course not. Why would you think that?"

They stared at him.

"Oh," he exclaimed. "No, that's something completely different! Naruto tethered me here so I could defend the catacombs."

"Tethered?" Sakura asked.

"It's… complicated," he said, wincing. "Just know that I'm pretty much immortal within a few miles of this mountain. Outside of that range, I'm just like everyone else."

Ino looked at the fallen ronin with a new eye. "So, what's going to happen to him?"

Watchman shrugged weakly. "I dunno. I never remember what happens after I die."

"No, I meant—" Ino grimaced. "Never mind."

They stayed in awkward silence, overlooking a dying man. She still had questions she wanted to ask, but a grave mood took hold of her and stilled her tongue. Suddenly, when she looked at him she didn't see an enemy anymore. He wasn't a comrade or anything like that, but he was an adversary no longer.

Now, he was just a man wearing her teammate's face, lying on his deathbed.

The quiet continued until the ronin turned his head in their direction. "You had… questions?" He was forced to take a shallow breath between every few words, slowing down the cadence of his sentences.

He was offering to give her exactly what she needed, but strangely that only made her hesitate more. She turned to look at Ino and the girl gestured for her to go ahead, but that wasn't enough to erase her misgivings.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

The ronin turned back to stare at the sky with oblivious eyes. "I'd like to… hear your voice more. I don't mind… paying for it."

She nodded, and quickly took scale of his appearance. He was pale and moved very slightly. He didn't have much time.

So many questions… so little time.

The first was simple. "Why?"

He turned and stared at her with unfocused eyes. "Wouldn't you? I was born… loving my village. I was born… loving Iruka-sensei. I was born… loving you, Sakura. I wanted… to meet you… all of you, finally. That's all."

She felt a strange heat rising up her chest. He said that with such ease that it was embarrassing. She turned to look at Ino and saw the girl grinning at her. She spun back immediately.

She cleared her throat. "Um… I saw a lot of clones running around outside, and I don't think they could have made it past Watchman. Why didn't you take that way out?"

"I can answer that one," Watchman spoke up. "Basically, when Naruto makes a clone, it's a perfect copy, but it doesn't stay that way long. The more time that passes after its birth, the more imperfect it becomes. When Naruto's in here, he leaves a hole out there, and if we focus really hard then we can slip out of that hole and into the outside world as shadow clones. Except that Naruto's a circle and we're more like square blocks."

Sakura frowned at the imagery. "What?"

Watchman gestured half aborted shapes and grimaced. "You know…"

Ino nodded. "I think I get it. You're saying that a clone that's similar to Naruto can trick his body into using kage bunshin to make itself a new body when he isn't in control of it."

Watchman thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Yep, that it!" He nodded towards the ronin. "Most of the old ones are so different from Naruto that the only way they'll be able to make his body do anything is if they beat him and take over."

"You said that before. What's an old one?" Ino asked.

"On the night where Naruto learned kage bunshin, he made one thousand of us. I was the first," he said, then pointed to the ronin. "He and his brothers were the other nine hundred and ninety-nine, the old ones. Something… weird happened between the time where he made me and the time where he made them, and they came out kind of weird themselves. If you see someone very different from Naruto, chances are he's an old one."

Sakura blinked. "Something weird? Like what?"

Oddly enough, both Watchman and the declining ronin winced at the question.

Watchman bowed his head in apology. "Sorry Sakura. That's kind of personal."

She blinked again, harder. That had never happened before.

"Okay, stop!" Ino shouted, startling her. "Say that again? How many clones did you say Naruto made in one night?"

Sakura swiped at her elbow. "Oi, what's with you?"

Ino eyed her warily as she rubbed the bruise. "Why are you not surprised?" Her eyes widened. "Wait, those numbers you quoted earlier, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, you weren't exaggerating?"

She tilted her head. "No?"

Ino swirled around to face Watchman. "Hey, how many of you are there in here?"

Watchman frowned at the question. "I dunno! It's not like I ever counted!"

The blonde waved those concerns off. "Just give me a ballpark figure."

He thought about it for a minute. "Um… maybe fifty thousand?"

Ino buried her head in her hands and groaned. "How are we supposed to find the real Naruto when there are fifty thousand Naruto look-alikes to sift through?" She peeked out from the cracks between her fingers. "Sakura…" she called out in a pleading voice.

Sakura was adamant. "I'm not leaving, Ino!"

Before they could get into another argument, the ronin interrupted them. "Find… the Hokage."

Ino pointed at the pale man triumphantly. "See! Even he thinks we should go back!"

Watchman quickly shook his head. "No, that's not what he meant. He's talking about… Well, that's where I was planning on sending you anyway."

Sakura frowned at the wording. "Send? You're not coming with us?"

He smiled weakly. "I can't go too far from the mountain. Sorry."

"Are you sure? I mean, I'm sure Naruto will understand if you just—"

"Sakura, I think he means that he can't physically leave," Ino explained, eying the boy with narrowed eyes.

Her eyes widened when Watchman nodded. "Yeah. I start to pass out if I go too far."

"Is it a side-effect of the tether?" she asked.

He pensively scratched the back of his neck. "I dunno. Could be. I'm not supposed to leave anyway, so I never really asked—"

He stopped abruptly and snapped around to stare the boy lying at his feet.

She'd almost asked him what the problem was when she noticed.

The ronin wasn't moving. The ronin wasn't breathing.

Watchman sighed and moved to close the corpse's eyelids, but stopped short when he saw the state of his hand, still filthy with blood and dirt. He started wiping his hands off on the grass in front of him, but she stopped him with a gesture.

Instead, she knelt at his side and did it for him.

She shivered. The ronin's skin was cold.

"Are you going to need help taking care of the body?" Ino asked gently.

He shook his head lethargically. "There's no need for that. Just give it a minute."

Sakura shared a long look with Ino, but neither of them had anything to say. So they waited.

It was a minute before she realized that the ronin was glowing.

A soft white light emerged from every inch of skin exposed to her eyes. It was white like moonlight, and quickly grew in intensity with a sound like a teakettle.

"What's happening?" Ino yelled.

The light intensified to the point where it was nearly blinding, until the whistling stopped, spreading out with a whoosh like having a hundred arrows pass by overhead.

She blinked the spots out of her eyes and looked in the direction the sound was heading towards. She gasped softly.

Dozens of tiny orbs of light plunged into an empty patch of grass just up ahead. It looked like an army of white fireflies diving into a green lake.

"Beautiful," she whispered.

She thought to look down and saw that the ronin's corpse had disappeared, leaving nothing but his clothes behind. Her eyes widened.

She quickly looked back at the empty patch of grass, where the last orb of light slowly dropped into the green sea. A nervous feeling pushed through her veins, fuelling her motions. She felt cold, and swallowed uneasily.

They slowly pushed through the ground supported by thick necks, their heads shriveled up and restrained. They grew quickly, reaching past the grass' topmost perimeter in seconds, but stopped as soon as they reached a certain height. Finally, the head located in the very middle of the group trembled minutely and… bloomed.

It relaxed and stretched out, becoming a fragile spot of color gently swaying under the influence of something much bigger than itself. A blue flower standing alone within a field of closed blossoms, as if it were the vanguard for its people.

And like they were following its lead, the other flowers also shivered and blossomed, each one adding another spot of color to the world.

"What just happened here?" Ino asked softly.

Watchman gently poked one of the flowers and watched it sway and dance. He climbed to his feet with a sigh.

"He reincarnated."

Obviously satisfied with that concise explanation, he turned away and walked towards the ronin's abandoned belongings.

Sakura rubbed at her arms as she turned left and right, staring at the scores of flowers floating atop the green sea. Suddenly, this place no longer seemed quite as beautiful.

They trucked onwards under cover of night, following Watchman's lead without pause with only the quiet sounds of their footsteps to keep them company.

Her hands were beginning to cramp, but she couldn't bear to loosen her fists. It was just so very unnerving. The most beautiful field of flowers she'd ever seen was nothing more than a giant graveyard.

It felt like the temperature dropped something like five degrees. The feeling was uncomfortable, but it had still been bearable.

Then the sun set and she witnessed the moon rise up in its place to reign over an empty sky.

The bright moonlight illuminated enough of their surroundings that the late hour posed very little obstacle as they trekked around the mountain, but it certainly didn't help with the alien atmosphere that suffocated this place and made it difficult to draw breath.

She looked up and stared at the lonely moon, wondering again why there weren't any stars to keep it company.

"Why'd you say that you didn't know what was going to happen to him?"

She startled and almost squeaked at the noise. Her head snapped around towards the source, pointing her eyes directly at Ino.

The blonde had quickly taken off Watchman's jacket, but she didn't give it back to him. Instead, she chose to tie it around her waist, leaving her clothed in a wrinkled white shirt and knee-length blue shorts.

That question was the first attempt at communication any of them had made over the past several hours and Sakura hadn't been ready for it.

In contrast, Ino's steady gait showed no sign apprehension or concern with her surroundings, and her light blue eyes were pinned on their guide.

Watchman turned back and matched her stare, blinking. "Because I didn't," he answered. He turned back and added, "I still don't."

The boy had taken the time to wash up and to lock up the gate before they left, so he no longer looked like the title character of a slasher movie. He wasn't naked anymore either, seeing as the ronin kindly declined to take his clothes with him to his next life.

Now, he walked around in grey hakama pants, with a long strip of black cloth wrapped around his neck like a scarf. He carried the pieces of the ronin's shattered sword in a sheath, and the cord of his beautiful necklace was tied around his wrist.

She caught a flash of his bare feet from within the wide pant legs of his hakama and glanced down at her feet. She was very, very glad that he had chosen to give her ronin's sandals.

Ino crossed her arms. "What do you mean you don't know? Didn't you say he reincarnated?" she accused.

Watchman nodded in agreement. "I did, and he did, but that's just his body. Those that bear Naruto's likeness don't get to keep his likeness after they pass away. So our bodies break down and we reincarnate, but I don't know what happens to everything else. Naruto might know, but I never asked."

Ino tilted her head, curious. "Why not? You never thought about it?"

He shook his head no. "I don't like to think about it. I guess I was just scared."

Ino hummed and lowered her head thoughtfully, after obliviously stomping all over the very issues Sakura had been trying to avoid.

She didn't really want to dwell on this subject, but now that the ice had been broken, her curiosity got the best of her. "Do they all turn into flowers?" she asked, quietly and half-hoping he wouldn't hear her.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Not really. We all turn into flowers and small trees here because…" he floundered for an answer for a few moments. "Just because," he said, finally.

"Really?" Ino asked, wryly. "That's your excuse?"

Watchman avoided her eyes. "…It's complicated," he mumbled, before raising his voice and continuing on unopposed, "Anyway, that's just when you're close to the mountain. Further out, the wheel of reincarnation isn't fixed. Animals, insects, whatever! Anything is fair game!"

"Grass too?" Ino asked, staring at the miles of grass surrounding them.

Watchman nodded. "Grass too."

Sakura stopped on a dime, grimacing as she stared at her feet. Feet that had trampled grass over the past several miles. An unpleasant feeling swelled in her breast, a discomfort she didn't know how to ease.

Ino didn't take long to notice. "Hey, what are you doing?"

She couldn't really say. She didn't know herself.

She bit her lip and forced herself to keep walking, ignoring the discomfort.

"Sakura?"

She faked a smile as she passed her friend's worried eyes. "It's nothing Ino. Forget it," she assured. She kept her eyes on Ino's for several strides, trying to convince her friend with her eyes.

It didn't seem to be working. She looked ahead to see their guide's piercing stare mere feet away.

She stopped abruptly and jerked back in surprise, taking a half-step away from his bright blue eyes.

Watchman seized the initiative. "You shouldn't do that, Sakura-chan."

"What—" she stopped and shook her head. She really didn't want to talk about it. "Look, I'm fine! Let's just keep going," she suggested.

There was no time like the present, so she immediately tried to walk around him, but he spread his arms wide, blocking her path and forcing her to stop.

Her patience was quickly coming to an end. She glared at him and raised her voice, "Oi! What are you doing? Didn't you say you'd help us find Naruto? Let's stop wasting time already!"

He spoke softly. "Sakura-chan. I can't let you go if I don't know that you're ready to do the right thing."

Ino groaned. Sakura felt her pain. Another impromptu obstacle.

Watchman paused, giving her the chance to respond, but she didn't have anything to say to him. She just glared, hoping to intimidate him into stepping out of the way.

Ino did, however, have something to say. "What's the problem, anyway?"

Watchman looked at Ino briefly, but made sure to make eye-contact with her when he spoke. "Sakura-chan is thinking too much."

Ino snorted. "I could've told you that. Still, I don't see how that's a problem."

Watchman's eyes seemed to glow underneath the moonlight as he met her eyes. "Imagine. At some point, everything living thing in this world, from the grass to the birds flying up in the sky, was once part of a living, breathing, thinking being."

Ino looked like she wanted to argue for a second, but she swallowed her concerns and tentatively nodded. "Yeah…"

Though Ino held up the other end of the conversation, Watchman's eyes never deviated from her. "You're uncomfortable, Sakura-chan. It's obvious. You've been uncomfortable since you saw what happened to the ronin, and you stopped walking when you realized where the grass came from. You're thinking too much. Deep inside you, it's not just grass anymore, and that's a problem."

Sakura thinned her lips as Ino shook her head in confusion. "So? This isn't exactly happy-happy fun time for me either, you know! She'll get over it!"

He shook his head wildly. "Will you? I can't just hope you will, not on this! I have to know! If you're uncomfortable just stepping on grass, then what are you going to do when the others stand in your way?"

She finally found her tongue. "I know what my mission is, Watchman!"

"And this isn't it, Sakura-chan! I'm not stupid," he yelled, frustrated. "Baa-chan wouldn't send you two in here without backup if she knew what it was like! And she doesn't know what it's like, but she has a better idea than you two, so she wouldn't have sent you do to anything but reconnaissance!"

His fierce eyes slipped away for a moment as he took a deep, calming breath. She had thought that their intensity would have diminished somewhat from his brief meditation, but she was wrong.

When they opened up again, they were blazing. Focused and determined like she had never seen them.

"You don't want to abandon Naruto, and that's fine. I respect that. But I have to know that you'll do what you have to!"

"And what is that?" Ino asked.

He looked at them both in turn. "Have no pity. If one of us gets in your way, then kill him. If they're shacked in a house, then burn the house down. If they're hiding behind a wall, then bring the wall down. Have no pity. Show no mercy. Tolerate no obstacles."

Ino snorted. "So what should we do about you, Mr. Obstacle? Should we kill you?"

The mocking grin on Ino's face faded when Watchman paused to think that suggestion over.

It didn't take him long. Just a few seconds of thought and he was all smiles as his hands gently unsheathed the broken sword.

He tossed the sword towards them, hilt first.

Sakura caught it out of simple reflex and gripped it with moist palms. What was left of the blade was only about two feet long, but the blade was just as sharp as it had been and the shattered tip looked like it could easily tear through muscle.

It was more than enough to kill.

She looked up into his fierce eyes and shivered on contact with his resolve.

"Show me that you've got what it takes," he requested.

She couldn't think. She could hear her blood rushing past her ears, but it felt like she had lead floating in her blood stream. Her hands were weighted down and drooped as she stood completely frozen, captivated by the look in his eyes.

He didn't wait long for her to make up her mind. In a moment's notice he was there, holding her by the shoulders and yelling at her.

"Don't hesitate! We're just smoke and shadows, Sakura! Just reflections on a lake surface. You think we have worth, but it's just an illusion. In here, only Naruto matters! Only He has real substance," he yelled, shaking her slightly. "If you can't kill me, even when you know that I'll come back, then I won't be able to let you pass!"

She closed her eyes, but when she opened them again he was still there, still glaring at her.

"Last chance, Sakura. Kill me!"

Go forwards, or go back?

She couldn't think.

So her hands moved by themselves.

She didn't hear the strike. His eyes disappeared underneath his pained grimace and his hands tightened their grip over her shoulders. A second later, she felt warmth leaking profusely onto her hands.

Her eyes slowly widened. What had she done?

His eyes cracked open, and he offered her a grin twisted by agonizing pain. "Hey, good job!" he congratulated her then winced, "Except… I kinda thought… you'd go for something more… instantly lethal."

He abruptly began to cough violently. Her trembling fingers let the hilt slip through her grip as Watchman tilted back and let gravity take over.

He hit the ground like a brick.

"Oh jeez!" Ino hurried to him, pale-faced and trembling. "This is so messed up."

Sakura stared at her bloodstained hands, feeling like she was a thousand yards away, like she wasn't the one who had just shoved two feet of steel inside Watchman's chest.

She stayed that for a long minute, staring at the blood dripping off her trembling hands, listening to the sound of Watchman's wheezing.

Drip. Drip. Drip…

It was different, so, so very different.

"Do you understand now?" Watchman asked, speaking softly.

The question pierced through the haze like blazing sunlight. She nodded firmly.

"Good," he said with a sigh, probably relieved that he wouldn't have to demonstrate his point again. His breathing had evened out, she noted, enough for him to speak without much effort. Ino had pulled the blade out and was putting pressure on the wound, but she didn't think it was all that necessary. He would probably survive on his own.

She looked at her opened palms and watched the blood slowly drip down.

She did understand. It was simple.

They didn't matter.

It wasn't going to be easy. When she hit them, the clones wouldn't explode like smoke-filled balloons anymore. They would bleed. They would scream. Some of them might plead or beg for mercy. It was going to be ugly, and her hands were going to get dirty, because in here, they were on the same level.

But at the end of it all, it was all just an illusion. Smoke and mirrors, each and every one of them.

The clones were just reflections. Some of them were identical, others were distorted, but they all had something in common.

They could be beautiful and innocent. They could be valiant and heroic.

They could be friends. They could be enemies.

None of that mattered. Compared to Naruto, they weren't anything but dreams.

She clenched her fists, staining her hands with Watchman's blood.

"I won't forget," she whispered. "Thank you."

It was a simple lesson, but a hard one.

Watchman met her eyes as he shrugged off Ino's helping hands. The message in his eyes was clear as day.

Don't get attached.

As long as she found Naruto, this world and everyone in it could burn.

"Well, this is it."

Watchman stopped before a stone structure set on top of a small hill. It was a raised pentagon made of white stone, with a smooth pillar on each corner supporting a raised halo.

Carved on the surface of the stone was what seemed to be scripture, but she couldn't recognize the symbols.

"What language is that?" she asked.

Watchman shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know. Ask Naruto. He's the one who made it."

Ino started. "Naruto made this? How? I know I don't know him very well, but I'm pretty sure he's not a damn sculptor."

Watchman opened his mouth, but quickly closed it and shook his head. "You'll figure it out. Come on, we've wasted enough time. I don't want you to get there too late to see him." He gestured for them to enter the pedestal. "Get on."

Ino turned to look at her, but she was already climbing onto the stone pedestal. The girl huffed in irritation, but quickly followed.

As the blonde made her way to join her at the center of the pedestal, she watched Watchman close his eyes and bring his hands together, his fingers twisted into practiced configurations.

Bird.

Dragon.

Serpent.

Hare.

And on he went. Carefully, intently forming symbols with his hands.

Twenty-three hand seals in, he stopped.

The unknown scripture carved all over the pedestal glowed with bright light. The light quickly died down to a dim glow which was followed by a deep sound, like rocks shifting underground. A grating sound drew her attention upwards, where the top two-thirds of the ring was beginning to rotate clockwise, shedding dust as it slowly gained speed.

Just beyond the pedestal's perimeter was their guide. He stood watching, brightened by the light emanating from the pedestal; his blue eyes most of all.

He watched quietly as the ring spun ever faster, until a whine appeared at low edge of her hearing.

"Aren't you going to give us any directions?" Ino asked worriedly.

He grinned impishly, like he was having a little fun at her expense. "Heh! You'll know where to go. I guarantee it!"

The sound grew quickly in intensity and the light seemed to accompany it. Soon, her senses would be completely overwhelmed by them, but it was strangely painless, even now. There was no urge cover her ears or to close her eyes even as the sensations grew ever higher in intensity.

There wasn't much time left. She didn't know if he'd be able to hear her, but there was something she had to say.

So she put her hands around her mouth so as to make a funnel, and yelled out without restraint, "Watchman! Thanks for all your help!"

At first he seemed surprised, blinking excessively with a blank face. For a moment there, she thought he hadn't heard her and prepared to try again.

Her hands fell to her side.

There was a smile on his face, and it wasn't an expression she recognized.

Naruto's smiles were excessive. He put so much effort into them that his eyes usually closed and cheeks pulled back all the way to expose all of his teeth.

This one… It was soft, content. A small arc of the lips and a softening of the eyes.

Naruto was never content.

A smiling boy illuminated from the bottom up by a white light, his blue eyes glowing like jewels, his black whisker marks remaining visible even as everything else was overwhelmed.

That was the last she saw of him.

An unknown amount of time passed before she found herself being shaken awake. She groaned, recognizing the feel of Ino's hands.

"Why do you always wake up first?" she asked, mumbling.

"Sakura! Get up! You've got to see this!"

The urgency in Ino's voice and the low volume at which she chose to speak sharpened her mind like an electroshock.

Her eyes snapped open and immediately judged the time by the position of the moon. Not much time had passed since they left Watchman, assuming of course that they hadn't been unconscious for more than a day.

She climbed onto her knees and noticed that she was still on top of the pedestal, and that Ino, who was kneeling beside her, looked excited rather than apprehensive.

"I don't care what you say," Ino whispered. "Naruto is a freak of nature. This isn't normal, Sakura!"

She frowned. Despite her words, Ino sounded almost impressed. "What are you talking about?"

Rather than answer, Ino pulled at her arm and led her off the pedestal. She noticed that the pedestal wasn't on top of a grassy hill, but on top of a mountain, and that Ino was leading her to the edge…

She stopped and gaped.

Her head snapped up. There were still no stars in the sky. They were still in Naruto's head.

She shook her head, unable to believe what she was seeing.

It was home.

Their entire village spread out before them, from their vantage point on top of the Hokage Monument.