❝𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑲𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒉𝒂❞

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 8: 𝑰'𝒎 𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒆

It has been three days since Naruto sent that letter. It now marks the third day that Sakura was found waiting near the gate, anxious for her...well her boyfriend, to come home. This behavior was once considered normal for the pinkette but ever since she began training under Tsunade she had developed into a strong and confident shinobi. Many people would heartily agree with the strong part of that statement. So, considering who she has become, this behaviour was looked upon as quite strange for the girl.

"Hey Sakura. Still waiting?" She turned to the sound of Izuma's voice. He looked at her with the tiniest of traces of sorrow. He was sad that the girl kept waiting after her shift at the hospital was over. She was waiting for someone that could show up anywhere between now and next month. Still he tried his best to keep her entertained. His partner was still in therapy from his injuries. That run in with Sasuke had nearly cost them their lives.

"Yeah. I know that he will be back soon. I don't know why I do but that doesn't change the fact that I do. How about you? How are you and Kotetsu doing?" Sakura remembered how badly wounded those two had been. After she was patched up those two had been rushed in for emergency treatment.

"I'm a lot better thanks to you. I still can't thank you enough for helping me when those complications arose. As for Kotetsu, he has definitely seen better days but he is a lot better than he was right after that Chidori was rammed through his stomach. Hopefully he'll be out of therapy soon." Izuma didn't notice he was rubbing his arm where the bone had been snapped. He still felt a shiver run down his spine when memories of the bone jutting out of his skin would pop into his mind. The boy had been ruthlessly efficient.

"Well that's good to hear." Sakura continued talking and was too absorbed in the conversation to notice the group of people coming into view. It wasn't until Izuma suddenly smiled and pointed behind that she turned towards the gate. In the distance she seen several figures all lead by two people. As the group came into view Sakura smiled at the sight of the wild, untamed blonde hair and the spikey white hair that the two people sported.

"Naruto!"

"Seriously how far away is this place?!"

"Deidera if you don't shut up I'm going to Shinra Tensei your ass back to Iwa!" Naruto had just about enough of Deidera's bitching and moaning which had started back at the border of the Fire Country. He was very happy that they had all joined his cause but even his patience has a breaking point which Deidera was fast approaching.

"Whatever." The other blonde shrugged and continued walking. Nagato sighed at Deidera's actions. He had long become used to this kind of behaviour from the explosives expert. He went back to thinking about his decision to join his long lost cousin in achieving his goals. Their goals were somewhat the same: collect Bijuu chakra. However Naruto wanted the Bijuu to volunteer and he only took a fourth of the Bijuu's chakra. He had originally joined to trick the blonde and extract the Kyuubi but over time his plan crumbled as the young man gave him no opportunities to carry out his plan. He was also surprised at how successful his method was working so far. They had been able to collect chakra from the Hachibi, the Rokubi, the Nibi, and the Sanbi otherwise known as Gyuki, Saiken, Matatabi, and Isobu. He also had already obtained some of Shukaku's chakra. Once inside the statue, Naruto let the clone of the Bijuu grow out of the chakra that they had. The plan was so simple, obviously created with little thought or planning, yet the perfect person needed to pull it off was leading the effort.

"Thank god we're finally there!" Deidera's outburst jogged Nagato from his thoughts and he looked up to see the walls of Konoha looming ahead. He was relieved to see the end of their travels was in sight.

Naruto had seen two people by the gate but from this distance he couldn't make them out. One was standing and was clearly talking to the one that was seated. He could only assume that the seated one was either Izuma or Kotetsu but he couldn't make out what they looked like yet. The standing one was clearly a female if the long legs were any kind of a give away. Once they got closer he seen the sitting one point at his group. He could finally tell that it was Izuma yet the other person had their head done so he couldn't guess who she was based on her hair color. As soon as Izuma pointed the girl's head snapped up and a massive grin spread across Naruto's face. Pink hair.