Dream

"Please... don't take him away from me! Don't take any more of my family away from me!" The ever-familiar blonde with bloodstained hair, trailing freely down her back and wartorn clothes, staggered towards the man she'd come to know as her brother. "Please!" She crouched by his body, noting the tiny shallow breaths, he struggled with.

"Na-ru...?" He turned his jade green eyes towards her, reaching up towards her with a blood covered hand. He had been taken down by a poisoned weapon, though from the way it had torn through his abdomen, it looked like it was going to be fatal regardless of the toxin. He was dying. His hand landed on her cheek, disrupting the steady flow of tears.

"Gaara..." Naru's vision blurred as the tears fell from her face. She couldn't lose him too, she wouldn't! "Just, hang on! Please...Sakura will be here any minute now." The red head blinked slowly. She should know it was hopeless, yet time after time she refused to face reality.

"N-naru," She tried to shush him, seeing as it was paining him to talk but he merely shook his head. "Stop crying... it doesn't suit you," He said slowly, smiling as she tried to furiously wipe away her tears for him.

"Please, stop talking Gaara," Naru pleaded, "Don't strain yourself." He gave a rough cough and blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. These were his finals words, whether she wished to believe it or not, and he had to say them before his heart gave out.

"Thank you... Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto," He began with small brief stops in between, "For showing me how to love... how it was more than just a word. For healing my heart... and mending the ties between my family. For cherishing me... and becoming my... hope... all of our hope...I entrust you with the future...we all...believe in you."

"Don't entrust me with something that precious!" Naru shouted, tearing up again, "Live! And then we'll protect it together!"

"...I'm getting a bit... tired," The insomniac red head said softly, "I guess I should tell them hello... from Shikamaru..." The light in his eyes quickly began to fade, "Smile, Na-ru..." his arm went limp and his hand fell from her cheek, landing on the ground with a soft thump, as he gazed blankly up at the stormy sky.

"No, no, no, no!" She searched frantically for any sort of pulse, "Gaara, please, answer me!" He stared at her with now lifeless eyes and his rapidly cooling body. "Gaara... AARAHG!" She screamed into the sky, howling like an animal that had lost a member of its pack. Birds scattered and her voice rang out in the empty field. Her teammates heard her cry and hurried towards her, finding the poor girl trying her hardest to smile as she wept over the body of the Fifth Kazekage.

Reality

Miyu started awake, touching her cheek to feel the leftover tears from her dream. Unsurprisingly, it looked like she was back in Konoha's hospital, and very heavily bandaged.

''Kit,'' Kurama seemed relieved to know she was awake, ''you have finally awoken. I will come see you in a moment.'' He dropped out of the connection, leaving the girl back in solitude. Carefully, she tested each of her limbs, slowly flexing the muscles and checking for any pain. Other than a slight ache from her shoulder, most of her wounds seemed to be healed. Left with nothing to do other than lay there Miyu was swept up in a storm of her own thoughts. She assumed it was the close proximity of Suna which triggered the more recent flashback... or maybe the red of the puppeteer's hair...Sasori, she wondered what happened after she collapsed. Kurama had assured her before she blacked out that her team was safe so that was one less thing to worry about.

"I need to get stronger," Miyu sighed to herself, she didn't want to waste all her precious time in a hospital. The door swung slid open quietly, catching her attention, and a tired looking Iruka walked in with a fresh vase of flowers. He looked up and met her eyes, dropping the ceramic piece in surprise.

"Miyu!" The girl winced at the loud shattering sound.

"It's nice to see your fine." Miyu replied with a small smile. "How have you been?"

"Worried." The boy stepped over the mess and quickly made his way to the bed, "How are you feeling? Are you hurt anywhere? Do you need me to call anyone?" He fussed over her like a flustered mother hen.

"Calm down Iruka, I'm alright-"

"Alright?!" He all but shouted, "You were nearly sliced in two! Do you know how many kunai the doctors pulled out from your body?!"

"But I'm fine now." She reassured. The boy calmed back down and sat in a chair beside her.

"...I was afraid y'know," He admitted quietly, "That Sasori guy was a monster, and we were going up against an army of zombies. But most of all I was afraid you weren't going to wake up." She listened to him carefully. At times she had forgotten he was just a nine year old boy, and now she could see that their first real mission was taking a toll on him. "I'll train harder, I'll get stronger, so please don't throw yourself in front of danger like that again," Iruka gritted his teeth, he had never felt more useless than in that moment, watching a small girl take a blow meant for him, "I promise I will get stronger, strong enough to protect myself and my precious people." His resolved mirrored her own and she had no doubt his determination would be just as great.

"We'll get stronger together." She decided, "Hopefully strong enough to stay out of a hospital." They both cracked small smiles.

"Nice to see you're awake." A stern voice called from the doorway.

"Hizashi-sensei." Iruka greeted. The Hyuga walked in with black clothes hanging over his

"I wasn't sure if you were awake, but thankfully you are. Good timing I guess." Their sensei rambled slightly. He put the black clothes on the bed, showing them two be two small kimonos. The blonde recognized them instantly and froze "Both of you get dressed quickly." He said with a small sigh. Iruka nodded, taking his and hopping behind a curtain.

"Who?" She asked softly, tentatively reaching for the soft material. Hizashi gave the small girl a pitying look.

"Nohara Rin."

A handful of ninja, all dressed in black, stood silently around a coffin. Their heads, bowed in a sign of respect as they mourned their most recent death. On top of the coffin was a small frame which showed the deceased. A young girl with short brown hair and purple markings on her cheeks. There were no tears. It was a solemn and desolate affair. The Hokage had arrived in his own funeral robes, speaking a few words for the girl as he did with all his shinobi. When Hiruzen took the chance to gaze around the small field he spotted the last arrivals. Her certainly did not expect the small girl to be up and about so soon, but was proven wrong as she calmly strode up to the coffin. There were some small whispers and startled looks as the ninja made way for her. She reached the casket and spent a long time staring at the photo before gently placing a small decorative comb on the top.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, "I'm sorry for getting back so late. I'm sorry for not being able to save you." She clenched her fists tightly and bower her head, saying farewell to the girl she had failed to save. Undoubtedly one of the many lives she had let fade away...

"Miyu, I'm so glad you're ok." Minato quickly walked up to the girl and swept her into a gentle hug, "Please, don't worry me like that again." Kakashi trailed a bit behind him, the light which he had only just recently regained once again absent from his eyes. He was definitely worse off than before.

"Are you alright Kakashi?" Miyu asked him quietly once Minato released her. He blinked as if only just noticing her, and thought her sentiment was strange.

"I'm...fine." He replied emotionlessly. And he was, compared to the small girl covered in bandages underneath her kimono. His sensei sighed sadly, it was almost as if he had lost all his students. Minato couldn't remember the last time he had felt so inadequate. He had let his team fall apart and had lost not one but two promising students to the shinigami.

Hopefully, he prayed, that Kakashi would recover.

"Excuse me for interrupting," Miyu turned to see the Hokage beside her teammates, "But if possible I would like to borrow some of your time." Minato sighed, it was going to be a long day. The five of them were led towards the Hokage tower, all the while villagers parted allowing them a generous berth. The journey was silent and uneventful and filled with lingering sadness, the group quickly finding themselves inside the Hokage office.

"Well, let's move onto one of our first topics of business." He picked up the mission report Hizashi had written up, "Uchiha Miyu, on you last mission, which was rather unlucky, you encountered and battled against an S-rank ninja. In recognition of you skill and ability I would like to promote you to chuunin, congratulations." He handed the stunned girl the signature flak jacket, smiling amusedly at her expression.

"...Thank you." She eventually said, accepting the article of clothing.

"Now that that's out of the way we have something more important to discuss and this concerns both Kakashi and Miyu."

"Is this about the Mangekyo Sharingan?" Hizashi asked abruptly. His had seen the eyes of his youngest student through the crowd of zombie ninja. The pattern had been unlike anything he had seen before, vastly different from the tomoe of the normal Sharingan. And of course, as a rival clan of the Uchiha, he knew all about their dojutsu.

"Mangekyo?" Kakashi echoed, he hadn't heard about such a thing yet, even from Obito who boasted about his clan's kekkei genkai.

"The Sharingan actually has two stages of release," Sarutobi proceeded to explain, "First the standard Sharingan, with different levels of mastery indicated by the number of tomoe, and then the Mangekyo. The stimulus for the first stage is merely feeling a powerful emotion whereas the Mangekyo is a bit more specific. It comes from the trauma experienced by the death of someone very close to the user, which usually occurs after witnessing the event first hand." He spoke softly not exactly wanting to upset anyone with his hypothesis. "Or possibly just death itself..." he pondered.

"Now, the Mangekyo Sharingan is extremely powerful, but it comes at a great cost," Hiruzen warned, "Not only the cost of achieving it there is also the added cost of its power."

"Cost?" Iruka asked worried.

"The Mangekyo requires immense amounts of chakra to be able to sustain it, and while the techniques are indeed fearsome, they will slowly deteriorate the uses eye sight the more they rely on the dojutsu." Hiruzen explained.

"So, essentially you're saying that if these two use the Mangekyo Sharingan they will slowly become blind?" Hizashi surmised receiving a nod of confirmation. It was strange how vastly contradicting the two dojutsu of the village were. One supporting taijutsu, the other focusing on genjutsu and ninjutsu. One all seeing, the other resulting in blindness.

"Blind?!" Minato panicked slightly. "Miyu, Kakashi! How many fingers am I holding up?" Both gave him similar expressions and responded in synch.

"Two." They answered simply enough. Miyu accepted him concern whilst Kakashi on the other hand wondered if his sensei had forgotten his other eye.

''Your eyes would never hinder you.'' Kurama stated in her mind, his current location a mystery. ''The amount of chakra, with our shared reserves, is of no concern. They have been transplanted thrice, once between brothers and the other with an impeccable technique, and even if that were not the case your healing factor would have slowed the deterioration down tremendously, possibly even stopping it depending on how frequent your use was. It is perfect for someone like you.'' Miyu wouldn't admit it but the fox's words unsettled her, she had never wanted this cursed dojutsu.

"There's not much we can do about it since the dojutsu has naturally manifested, though I recommend avoiding the use of if." The Hokage informed, watching both ninja nod obediently. "Other than that, you are dismissed," He gave a small smile and addressed the whole group, "I'm sure you're all tired." The ninja quietly left, no one in the group speaking as they made their way outside. For some it was the information they were trying to process that stopped them from speaking and for others it was the sheer weariness that weighed heavily on their minds.

"Minato," Hizashi began, placing a hand on each of his students' shoulders, "If you don't mind I'd like to take Miyu to the Hyuga compound and debrief her. I know Kushina is eager to see her but I would rather do it now than later."

"I guess that's alright," Minato gave the small girl a once over, she didn't look like she would just keel over anytime soon even though she was fresh out of the hospital. "She'll get to see her later tonight anyway."

"So Miyu," She shifted as her sensei hit her with a piercing stare, "Is there anything that we, as you team, should know about?"

''Even without the Byakugan, a Hyuga can be fearsome.'' Kurama commented drily. She had finally found him, or more accurately he had found her, on the way to the compound, and was now sitting by her side.

"What do you want to know?" She asked, wondering if it was even possible to lie to this man. It didn't help that Iruka was looking at her expectantly. If anything it would probably be harder to lie to her former, younger sensei.

"Let's start off with the facts first then," Hizashi sighed, "You are intelligent, far passed your years. It's unlikely but not impossible, as Konoha has many of these prodigies. But not only that, you have and aptitude for seals." She stayed silent as she listened to his analysis, "A skill high enough you've managed to teach Iruka through the beginner levels, and can even create some yourself."

"Sorry." Iruka whispered as she wondered where he had found out about their study sessions.

"Iruka does not hide his newly developed sealing skills but you do, and frankly I had no idea why, though now I think I've figured it out, or at least part of the reason." Hizashi watched out for any body cues she might give. He was more perceptive than she gave him credit for, something she was starting to regret. "You like to keep your abilities secret. I don't know whether it's because you want to have a trump or merely feel uncomfortable with those around you knowing, but you will never elaborate on your skills unless asked specifically. You may be amnesiac, but surely you've found enough reason to trust in this village."

"I would stake my life for Konoha." Miyu responded seriously, "In here I have found family and friends, but I cannot trust every single individual, even if I want to. I'd rather keep some things a secret than someone I don't want to know finding out."

"Who are you talking about?" Iruka asked. So far he hadn't met anyone in the village that seemed particularly evil.

"I don't know yet. But there will definitely be people I find as my enemies out there." She stated confidently. She was lying to some extent, that much Hizashi could tell, but at least her comment about dying for Konoha seemed completely truthful.

"Right, well let's talk about something else why don't we?" Hizashi suggested, eyeing the fox, "Why don't you tell us more about Kurama?"

"What about him." Miyu proceeded cautiously.

"Just the general scope of his abilities, what he can or cannot do." He narrowed his eyes slightly, "But more importantly what he is." His eyes had seen it all, no matter what he reported to his superior. The chakra coils that almost composed the animal's whole being, the transformations that added tails and became more demonic and less fox-like with each form.

"Is he a summon?" Iruka asked.

''Maybe it is better for them to know now then later,'' Kurama yipped.

"No...He is, for lack of a better description, chakra."

"Huh?" It was clear she had confused Iruka.

"I don't know how he came to be," and that was true enough seeing as she had never paid attention to history, "But he exists."

"So an entity of chakra with a form of intelligence." Hizashi felt himself shiver involuntarily, "Like the Bijuu..." He uttered under his breath.

"Exactly like them." Miyu replied, surprising him with the fact she had heard.

"So how many tails?" He asked. Iruka merely looked back and forth between the two, trying to somehow understand the serious conversation.

"Seven." She replied instantly, and much to her surprise, he laughed.

"I would bet the small fortune I have that you've lied." He said confidently and entirely accurately, "It's nine isn't it?" Kurama watched him with a sharp gaze, what would this man do with the knowledge he had gained?

"That's-" He cut her off again.

"You're also a very bad liar." Hizashi said with a small smile, "I can understand why you would lie about that though. Nine tails would give a very suspicious image. But at the same time I can't help but wonder what we've got on our hands here. A pseudo-Kyuubi?" He knew it couldn't have the actual being seeing as he already knew where it had been sealed up.

"...More or less." She answered with a sigh. "Will you tell?"

"Not unless I have to, I believe people are allowed to keep their secrets. But I want to understand my team. What exactly I have on my hands." The Hyuga explained giving the girl a small sense of relief, though she was surprised that he would go as far as to keep it from the Hokage himself.

''Someone's coming,'' Kurama informed telepathically. Not even a moment after they heard footsteps and a polite knock.

"Hizashi, are you busy? I brought Neji-kun with me," A soft voice called.

"Ah, come in Hitomi." By the lack of honorifics Miyu could tell the two were close. The door to Hizashi's office slid in and Miyu felt her breath catch in her throat. Yet again she was unprepared for a chance meeting. The woman was breathtaking. Long, dark purple hair hung to her waist and framed her face, while her eyes were of the typical Hyuga lavender.

She stood elegantly in a royal purple kimono with a small dark haired child in her arms. A kind disposition, and warm expression, she reminded Miyu of Hinata, a slightly pregnant Hinata.

"Oh, who are our guests?" Hitomi asked, sending a smile at the two students. Miyu caught sight of Iruka blushing from her peripheral vision and smirked slightly. She couldn't blame him, after all the Hyuga clan was rather renowned for their beauty.

"This is Umino Iruka and Uchiha Miyu, my genin team. Iruka, Miyu, this is Hyuga Hitomi, my sister-in-law," So it was Hinata's mother, and the boy in her arms... "And my son Neji." The child was small, less than a year old, with a patch of dark-brown hair on his head. He smiled as his name was called, turning and reaching out for his father. Hitomi laughed quietly and handed the child over.

"He seems to always miss you." She turned back towards the doorway, "I promised my husband I would meet him right about now so I'll take my leave if you don't mind. It was a pleasure meeting you Miyu-chan, Iruka-kun." She winked at the small boy who seemed as red as a tomato, and slid the door shut before she walked off.

"Don't mind her." Hizashi laughed "She likes to joke around." Miyu would have never expected it. While watching her sensei and his child Miyu felt her heart warm at the sight.

They both looked so happy and peaceful together.

"Would you like to hold him?" Hizashi asked, seeing the way her eyes were glued to his little Neji.

"Can I?" His answer was to gently place the baby in her arms and she instinctively shifted them in place to support him properly.

"Have you held a baby before?" He asked curiously.

"I guess I have." Miyu replied with unusual sadness. Neji blinked staring into her eyes and giggled lightly, making soft babbling sounds.

"Oh? He likes you." The father commented, "I think he secretly has a thing for most women, especially the pretty ones...maybe a future prediction?" To imagine his student in her later years he used Minato as a template, adding more feminine qualities. To be honest Minato would probably make a great woman...

"I'm sure he'll grow up to be just as pretty." Miyu said with a small laugh. Neji had begun to tug at Kurama's ears after he moved closer to look.

''Brat,'' The fox grumbled as the child gripped harder.

"Hizashi-sensei, what happened after I collapsed on that mission, by the way?" Miyu wondered how they managed to get out, "Did I miss anything important?"

"Well, after Iruka activated the special summoning seal Minato created, he was transported via his Hiraishin. He went on a small scale massacre after seeing your state, and 'killed' nearly all of Sasori's army. Though, when he reached the puppeteer's body it turned out to be a very well made puppet. We don't know when he made the switch or if we were battling against a puppet the whole time but the whole thought is disconcerting."

''To have been beaten by a mere puppet... We need a lot more training.'' The fox had taken to waving his tail at the boy and watching him futilely try to catch it.

"Your condition was horrendous, and by all means anyone else would have been dead, but I guess that's where your healing factor kicks in. We were flashed to the hospital by Minato where they immediately placed you in surgery, but there was little they could do with your wounds constantly healing. In the end they set your bones, and flushed out as much poison as they could before leaving your body to do the rest." Iruka finished.

"So Sasori is still alive then." She was a bit unnerved by the Suna nin and would rather not face him and his zombies again. She knew he had been toying with her and had no desire to face him seriously.

"Yes, but there are a couple of pluses from that encounter." Hizashi added happily, "For one, we recovered many of our comrades' bodies and were able to give them a proper burial. Among that most Ninja controlled by Sasori had bounties on their head which we were able to pick up. Here," He tossed her a scroll, "That's your share from the ninja your fox took down. I would say I was envious of Minato's share but frankly I'm just going to spend the money on some good quality tea," He sighed happily, just thinking of the possibilities.

"Did anything else happen while I was asleep?" She asked, checking the scroll for its amount. She almost choked in surprise.

''I think I did pretty well. Ku was definitely proud of himself.'' It looked like they could splurge on weaponry now.

"More good news," Hizashi stated, "The war is finally over." A smile graced her face, one that was so bright it stunned the occupants of the room. That was marvellous news.