Once Again (A Naruto Fanfiction) (Sequel to Another Take) (Complete)

Ch. 22: Surface Of The Sun

~This is a story full of restless nights, of do or do not 'cause there is no try, across a decade we flew high and we fell low, and getting up when we're dragged down is all we've known~

Kiyomi's POV

"So what now?" was the question first asked by Jiyuu, but it seemed like everyone had it on their minds.

I shrugged, then noticed they were all looking at me. "I have no idea," I responded. Then I frowned. "And don't look to me for answers! I'm not in charge here!"

Jiyuu and Orion exchanged glances. "You kind of are," Jiyuu said slowly. Then a smile grew on her face,. "It was your idea to bring us all together. Now you've gotta deal with the consequences!" Jiyuu's grin was infectious, and for a moment we were all amused.

But I just had to ruin it. "So we know that Ahio has been added to the Ten-Tails Akatsuki wants to revive. That's one down, and it means that the Ten-Tails will have Wind chakra nature. We have to keep ourselves away from that."

"Akatsuki is basically dead," Roka added in, his arms crossed as he thought. "A man named Madara is in charge, and this is all his plan. As far as I know, Kisame is the last member of the Akatsuki besides Madara. And who knows how long he'll last."

"The nations seem tah be gearin' up for a war," Orion said. "As we were headin' here, shinobi were pourin' in from all over. I saw Leaf, Wind, Lightnin', Mist, everythin'. My best guess would be that they caught wind ah Madara's plans, and are preparin' to counter."

"Madara obviously does plan for this," Roka commented thoughtfully. "When I was with Sasuke, Madara was obviously preparing for something. I know for sure that he planned the destruction of Konoha. Which is in ruins, by the way." That was an aside directed at me.

I shrugged. I'd left Konoha for good. I only hoped that Kakashi and Hachi were okay.

"We obviously have a ton of power," Jiyuu grinned, sounding a bit like she was bragging. She did turn more serious after that, though. "We need to decide what we're doing. Are we aiding the villages, or running to where the war can't reach us? I'm assuming we won't aid Madara."

"I'm all for runnin' to the hills until this all blows over," Orion gave his opinion nonchalantly. "I owe nothin' to any village, 'cept maybe Suna. Not the Kage though, never the Kage."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with Gaara? He's changed."

Orion snorted. "Nothing, save that he killed my parents." Then Orion turned thoughtful. "Though if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't ah met Bren. So maybe I should thank the guy."

Nobody answered that, but nobody really needed to. We've all lost something, so we understood. And we'd moved on.

"Any other opinions?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Roka and Jiyuu looked at each other, eye-battling to see who was talking first. Jiyuu blinked first, then groaned. "Fine. I'm with Orion in the whole 'we don't owe the villages anything', but I don't mind helping. If we don't, a lot more people will die." Then she looked at Roka.

The boy shrugged. "I just want to meet up with Sasuke again when this is all over. To achieve that end, I think we should help. I'd rather him not die."

I nodded, agreeing. "I'm with Jiyuu and Roka. I may not like a lot of shinobi, but people shouldn't die needlessly. We can prevent some deaths, so it's our duty to do so. Sorry," I said to Orion. "But we're going to help. We'd appreciate if you were there with us, but if you want to leave that's your choice."

Orion's eyes turned glassy as he thought, which indicated Bren was adding his opinion. We waited around the fire until they were finished. Orion sighed. "Well, Bren says that if I leave, I miss a whole lot of fightin'. And we can't have that, now can we?" At all of our expectant looks, Orion nodded. "Yeah, we'll stay and fight."