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New Beginnings	By : tragic.violinist Category: Naruto AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 2491 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: NARUTO and its respective characters were created and are owned by Masashi Kishimoto. No copyright infringement intended. I make no money from this story.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Chapter 9. Aftermath
Kabuto worked quickly to stop the bleeding and close her up, Iruka and Sakura still held the children, swaddled in towels, as they tried to quiet them. Neji's eyes never stay in one place for long, on one hand he wanted to see his children, to hold them in his arms, at the same time he didn't want to leave Hikari's side. With the arrival of Sakura and Ino, Kabuto had sent Hanabi to go get cleaned up and return to the rest of the Hyuuga clan, that had not been out fighting.
"I think they're hungry," Sakura pointed out.
That snapped Neji out of his daze, "over there in Hikari's bag, there's a canister of formula and clean bottles."
"Iruka can you find us some water to mix the formula with? We will also need a large basin of warm water to clean Hikari and the children up," Kabuto requested. "Let Neji see his daughter," he added.
Before Iruka could hand the small girl off Sakura spoke up, "you should take your shirt off Neji, skin to skin contact is one of the best things for bonding, also you're covered in blood and dirt."
Neji nodded and removed his shirt before accepting the small screaming child, she must have been upset by being passed around so much because as soon as he had her in his arms she let out a very loud wail. "Shh, it's okay Megumi it's okay," he said soothingly to her. He took the time to kiss her perfect brow, that would never be marred as his has been. She must have recognized his voice because slowly her cries subsided, he stroked the thick dark hair as she looked up at him with her small opal eyes. He choked up at the sight, tears of happiness streaming down his face.
Iruka returned carrying several canteens of water, while he had recruited Daisuke and Hisoka to bring in two wash basins. Emiko brought up the rear with two wicker baskets lined with towels to serve as beds for the babies. As Kabuto cleansed the blood off of Hikari and Sakura washed Hiroshi, Ino mixed up the formula and found two little outfits as well as some diapers.
Cleaned, dried, and dressed Sakura took Megumi and handed Hiroshi to Neji so that he could be fed. More tears spilled from his eyes at the sight of his son, he shared the same eyes as his sister but his head was covered in a soft down of copper hair. Once Megumi was cleaned as well Sakura handed her off to Ino to be fed, Iruka sent the teens off again but remained to help Kabuto move Hikari onto a clean futon.
"I need to get going now. I'm sure they could use my help down there," Sakura excused herself leaving Ino behind to help with the newborns. "Is there anything you need up here?" she asked Kabuto.
He dropped his voice low, not wanting to worry anyone further than they already were, "Hikari is going to need a blood transfusion, she is stable for the moment but she has lost a lot of blood." Sakura nodded and promised to send some up as soon as she could.
With all three of his patients resting comfortably in their makeshift beds Kabuto spoke the question they had all been dying to ask, "how bad is it down there?" he asked Ino.
"Everything will need to be rebuilt but there were no casualties."
"How is that possible, Katsuyu, before she vanished said," Iruka began but Ino silenced him.
"I know, it was really bad, but after the big blast Naruto and Jiraiya-sama returned, I don't know all the specifics but all I know is Naruto some how managed to make the guy leading the attack to have a change of heart. Right now I can only describe it as a miracle, he gave back the lives of all he took, there were still some injuries but everyone is alive."
There was a collective sigh of relief at the news, "what about Kira though, we heard they had captured her, when he had his change of heart, did they give her back or was is too late?"
"Kira's okay, unconscious but fine, Naruto brought her back with him."
"So what happens now, everything is gone, the homes, the academy, the hospital, it's all gone." Neji asked softly, wary of waking the children.
"They had already started working on it when Sakura and I were making our way up here, Gaara and the Akimichi clan are working on clearing the debris. Yamato is doing his best to create temporary dwellings, starting with the hospital and the academy, so that we have somewhere for everyone to stay while reconstruction takes place. I think they plan to have most of the civilians stay in the catacombs for now so they're not in the way, but I'm sure they will want to move you guys as soon as they have room for you at the hospital." Ino paused for a moment before speaking again, "there is one problem though, Tsunade-sama is in a coma."
"A coma, how?" Kabuto inquired.
"Sakura told me she exhausted herself trying to heal everyone, she spread herself too thin and collapsed, we don't know how long it will be before she regains consciousness."
"The elders won't want to wait, they'll want to name a new Hokage as soon as possible," Iruka pointed out.
"Yes, they're already trying to discuss it," Ino confirmed, "though if I recall correctly, Orochimaru-sama told them in no uncertain terms, that if they couldn't wait until all the survivors had been found and treated, he would take over the village himself and disband the council."
"You're kidding," Neji couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"I don't doubt it for a second, as a former Konoha shinobi, one of the three legendary Sannin and current leader of the Sound he has the means necessary to do it. If you add to the fact all of the help he provided today, I think more than a few of the higher ranking shinobi here would be willing to support him."
"That's almost exactly what happened, there were several jounin close by as he made his speech and when the elders saw the support they gave him they agreed to wait before discussing it again."
They heard a light tapping on the doorway of the room, Neji looked up to see Jiraiya and Orochimaru standing there, "how is she Kabuto?"
"She's stable, the twins are doing well, they've eaten and are sleeping now, did you speak with Sakura?"
Orochimaru nodded, they approached them silently, looking down at the sleeping bundles. Jiraiya handed Kabuto a couple of units of blood for Hikari, "she was going to send another medic up but they're swamped down there, we had to come see for ourselves that you were all okay so we offered to bring it."
Kabuto accepted the packages and expertly inserted an IV into her arm, using some medical tape to affix the bag to the wall of the cave, while the two men took a seat near Neji. "Thank you Orochimaru-sama, this should be more than enough."
"They have a room set up for the four of you at the hospital," Jiraiya told Neji, "as soon as it's safe to move her that is," he gave Kabuto a questioning look.
"It's hard to tell," he answered the unasked question. "Even after her blood counts are back up, I had to do an emergency c-section, with the path out of commission it would be difficult to get her down the mountain without the risk of tearing her stitches."
"They are already working on a new path, after all they aren't going to carry all the villagers down the mountain." Ino added, she had seen them at work when she and Sakura were on their way up.
"Either way it has to wait until her counts are back up, and we're going to need a stretcher. There's no reason why you shouldn't go get some rest, I don't imagine she won't regain consciousness until morning at the earliest."
"I'm not going anywhere," Neji stated firmly.
Kabuto offered him a small smile, "I didn't expect you would, but you need to get cleaned up, we all do."
Neji looked longingly between Hikari and his sleeping children, as loath as he was to leave them, he knew Kabuto was right. While he had already removed his shirt, his pants and hair were still caked with blood, dirt, and even ink. Kabuto had more than a small amount of Hikari's blood on him as well, Ino was no better off. Iruka seemed to be untouched by the blood but his clothes were dusty from the blast that had shook the mountain.
"The four of you should go get cleaned up, Jiraiya and I will watch over Hikari and the children," Orochimaru suggested, they had had time to clean up before coming up the mountain.
Neji finally conceded and followed Iruka to the cleaning station they had prepared in the catacombs. Ino took her leave with the intention of cleaning up at the hospital and seeing if they still needed an extra pair of hands, she promised to come see them again once they were settled in the hospital.
"They really are precious aren't they," Orochimaru said softly, looking down at the newborns.
Jiraiya nodded, "they're so tiny though, almost fragile looking."
"She was too remember, and remember all the trouble she used to cause."
"I think you mean all the trouble she still causes," Jiraiya chuckled causing little Hiroshi to squirm and whimper.
Orochimaru scooped up the child into his arms in an attempt to comfort him before he could wake his sister, but it was too late, Megumi began to wail.
"Sorry," Jiraiya whispered, sure that it was his fault they had woken up, he picked up the girl, "now what?"
Orochimaru sighed at his former teammate, "they probably need to be changed and fed, grab Hikari's bag over there."
Neji and Kabuto returned an hour later, dressed in simple black yukatas from the emergency storeroom. They found both men resting their heads again the wall of the cave dozing lightly with the babies asleep in their arms. "Should we wake them?" Neji asked.
"I wouldn't advise it, have you ever seen Orochimaru-sama when his sleep has been disturbed?" Neji shook his head, "imagine Hikari and Sasuke with no coffee in the morning and multiply by ten. We should use this time to rest as well."
Neji nodded and they pulled the spare futons out of the corner, Neji set his up as close to Hikari as possible. She was already starting to look better as color came back to her face, he leaned down to brush her hair back from her face lovingly, placing a kiss on her forehead before settling down to sleep.
Several hours later all of the rooms occupants, save Hikari, were woken by the sound of the children's cries, hungry and wet, they demanded attention. Orochimaru insisted that he and Kabuto would take care of it, stating that Neji would have plenty of time in the future to enjoy sleepless nights with the twins, and should rest while he had the chance.
~*~
Itachi groaned in pain as he regained consciousness, the previous day's events slowly coming back to him, how was he still alive, the last thing he remembered was that large bird, engulfed in black flames careening towards him. The world was black around him, had the blindness finally consumed him, a vision of Kira flared to life in his mind. He sat up quickly gasping in pain as he did so.
"Uchiha-san, please don't move, you aren't fully healed yet," a feminine voice he didn't recognize rang out from next to him.
"Kira, where's Kira?"
"She is fine, she is resting as well, just a few feet away from yourself."
He sighed in relief, "what about my brother, where is Sasuke?"
"Also resting, in a room down the hall, it will be a few days before either of you will have full use of your eyes again."
Itachi's brow furrowed in confusion, "what do you mean?"
"I will go see if Haruno-san is available, she will be able to explain the situation better, as she was the one to perform the procedure."
The sound of footsteps faded, leaving Itachi to ponder what was happening, they couldn't have done an eye transplant, could they? Sasuke didn't possess the mangekyo sharingan, unless, had something happened to Naruto? A new set of brisk footsteps entered the room.
"Nice to see you awake, Itachi," he recognized the voice as belonging to Sasuke's pink haired teammate, Sakura. "You're the first one to regain consciousness."
"What do you mean, what has happened?"
She gave him a brief rundown of the events that had taken place, the destruction of the village followed by the large scale resurrection. "Many of those killed in the blast awoke right away, but those like yourself who had been killed earlier in battle, some of you are still out cold."
"Who?"
Sakura sighed as she prepared to tell him, of course he didn't know, of their group he had been the second to fall. "Sai, Kakashi and Sasuke, but as I said they are all fine now," she assured him.
His head was reeling, "that other woman, she said something about my eyes, something about a procedure you did, what was she talking about?"
"Sasuke woke up for a short time yesterday. He insisted that I transplant his sharingan into you and vise versa."
"Did something happen to Naruto-kun, that procedure is only supposed to work if both parties have obtained the mangekyo sharingan."
Sakura nodded, even though he couldn't see it, "Naruto is fine, he's already at work outside helping with the rebuilding effort. Sasuke's mangekyo sharingan awakened when he received news of your death, we're still not sure why."
"I never imagined it would go down like this," he said more to himself than anything, as he allowed himself to relax back into the bed.
"I don't think anyone did, you should try to rest a bit more. I will be back tomorrow to remove the bandages from your eyes, but you will have to wear sunglasses because your eyes will be sensitive to the light."
"Thank you, Sakura-san, my brother is fortunate to have you as a friend."
~*~
She was surrounded by darkness when she first heard it, the sound of crying, slowly fading. What was that sound, was it her children? Megumi? Hiroshi? Why couldn't she hear them any more? What happened? She forced her eyes open, taking in her surroundings, she was in a room she had never seen before, everything was natural wood, from the floor to the exposed beams above her. She was in a very large bed, and was surrounded by people, the light in the room was dim she couldn't quite make out who they were. She squinted, willing her eyes to adjust to the atmosphere quickly.
Suddenly Kira's face invaded her field of vision, "you're awake, how do you feel?"
She continued to look around the room, not yet trusting her voice. Sasuke leaned against the wall arms crossed, like he didn't want to be there. Itachi stood a few feet behind Kira, Kakashi sat in a wheelchair at the foot of the bed. Sai was in the corner, glancing around as if he wasn't sure he should be there at all. "Am I dead?" she wondered aloud.
"No stupid you're not dead," Sasuke said bluntly, his brother shot him a glare.
"How is that possible, you died, all of you," in truth she wasn't sure about Kira, but if the Akatsuki had gotten their hands on her there was a good chance of it.
"Long story," Kakashi spoke up, before Sasuke could act like more of an ass, "Naruto always has had a way with people..." he began to fill her in on what had happened.
It took a moment for it all to sink in, but when it did she felt relief wash over her, everyone she thought lost to her was alive, "where's Neji, my babies, where are my babies!" She demanded.
"Settle down, they're just outside," Sasuke answered. "The brats woke up, Neji didn't want them to wake you so he and Ino took them into the hall to feed them."
"I want to see them."
Sasuke was closest to the door, he poked his head out and a few whispered words later Neji was rushing to her side, he shifted the precious cargo to one arm so he could embrace her with the other.
She burst into tears of relief as he showered her face with kisses, "can't you wait til you're alone for that shit," Sasuke complained. "I swear you're as bad as those two were," he said referring to Kira and his brother, who was once again glaring at him.
"Forgive him, he hasn't had a chance to see Naruto-kun since he woke up."
That brought forth a bubble of laughter from Hikari, as she gently pulled back from Neji and reached out for the child he held close.
"Meet your daughter," he said with a smile, relinquishing the dark haired infant to her mother.
More tears spilled from her eyes, "Megumi, my little Megumi, oh you're so beautiful." Ino came up to the side of the bed slowly, bending to so she could see Hiroshi. Hikari wasted no time in scooping the other child into her free arm. She cradled them both to her as she snuggled them.
The twins were put out however, at the loss of their meal and were soon wailing loudly, Neji took his daughter back from her and resumed feeding her as he sat on the edge of the bed. Ino offered Hikari the bottle she had been using to feed Hiroshi.
With the tearful reunion out of the way Hikari couldn't help but ask, "how is everyone else doing?" She was a little surprised that her Aunt and Uncles hadn't been there when she woke up. Of course at first she had written off Tsunade's absence as being extremely busy following the attack, and she was concerned for her after being told she was in a coma, but she wondered where Jiraiya and Orochimaru were.
"They're helping with the clean up," Neji explained to her, "though we were told to let them know when you woke up."
"Yeah, they wanted us to all be here when you came to, they figured you wouldn't believe we were alive unless you saw it with your own eyes," Kakashi elaborated.
"I'll go find them now," Ino offered and excused herself.
"Well that's my cue," Sasuke announced, "Ino will probably tell everyone she meets on the way."
"I think we'll go too," Itachi spoke softly, "I hope you're feel well rested because I have a feeling you're about to have a lot of visitors."
"There are a lot of people who have been waiting for you to wake up, so they can meet the twins," Neji informed her as the room slowly emptied out.
"It's going to be a long day isn't it?" He simply nodded in response.
~*~
She couldn't take it anymore, she needed to use the bathroom and she refused to use a bedpan. She pushed herself out of bed, using the wall to support herself as she made her way to the bathroom.
"What are you doing out of bed?" Sakura demanded as she entered the hospital room, Kabuto and Orochimaru just behind her. They had caught her on the way back to bed.
"Uh, I needed to use the bathroom."
"What if something had happened? What if you had fallen?" Sakura didn't look pleased, "and where is Neji?"
Orochimaru took her arm and helped her back into bed, "thank you Uncle Orochi, but really I'm fine. Sakura I know you mean well, but I know my body better than anyone, and I knew I could make it to the bathroom and back. As for Neji, the twins are sleeping, so I told him to go get something to eat."
"You should have at least called someone to come help," the pink haired girl lectured her.
Before Hikari could retort, Orochimaru spoke, "it's no use Sakura, she's more stubborn than her Aunt and Mother put together. In fact I seem to remember your mother being equally determined to get out of bed after having you, Hikari."
"Must be in the blood," Hikari replied with a smirk.
"However Sakura-chan is also right," Kabuto spoke, "you should at have someone close by when you get out of bed, just in case the worst should happen."
Hikari sighed, " I suppose that's a fair compromise, so what brings you all here?"
"I just need to check the little ones, make sure they are gaining weight," Sakura explained with a smile. Hikari nodded and watched as the girl gathered up Megumi and carried her out of the room, "I'll be back in a few minutes for Hiroshi."
"I need to give you a shot," Kabuto said gently, "just to make sure no blood clots form as a result of your surgery. Lie back for me please, and raise your shirt."
Hikari did as she was told, she noticed Neji entering the room out of the corner of her eye. "So when will you let me out of here?" she questioned.
Naruto chose that moment to burst into the room, "hey Hikari, I heard you were awake, how are you feeling, where are the twins can I see them?"
She couldn't help but smile at the blonde, his energy was contagious, "I'm feeling much better, thank you Naruto."
Naruto was gazing down at Hiroshi, "she's so cute, where's the other one?"
Neji shot a glare at the exuberant shinobi, though it held no malice, "that's my son."
Naruto scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "sorry about that, so this is Hiroshi huh? He has your hair Hikari."
Hikari beamed at him, "yes he does, Sakura just took Megumi to weigh her, they'll be back in a few minutes. Would you like to hold him?"
Naruto's eyes sparkled in excitement, "really, you mean it?"
"Yes of course, just be careful, make sure you support his head, here let me show you," she helped him get Hiroshi settled in his arms.
"So how long are you going to be in here anyway?"
"I was just asking the same thing when you came running in here," she laughed and turned her attention back to Kabuto.
"Normally it would only be for a few days, but as you know everything is still being rebuilt."
Hikari fought back a groan, "you don't mean to tell me that I have to stay here until it's done do you, that could take forever."
"With Captain Yamato's help it should take no time at all," Naruto assured her.
"Yamato? Now where have I heard that name before, I know I recognize it but I don't think I've ever met him."
Orochimaru chuckled, "I should hope you recognize the name, and I'm sure he would appreciate your help as well, once you're back on your feet that is. I think with a little help from Kabuto, you should be ready to help in about a week, as long as you don't overtax yourself."
Her eyes widened in realization as she remembered where she has heard the name before, both Naruto and Neji were looking at her in confusion. Something Orochimaru picked up on right away. "You never told them?"
She blushed, "it never came up," she mumbled, she looked at Neji apologetically. "I'm sorry."
It didn't take him long to put two and two together and he forgave her instantly, it wasn't a common ability and he could see why she would want to keep it quiet. "Don't worry about it, everyone has to have an ace up their sleeve right?"
Hikari grinned at him, "right. But you're correct Uncle Orochi, I would love to help as soon as I get out of here."
"I'm still lost," Naruto announced his confusion.
"Hikari here shares a very rare ability with Yamato," Orochimaru told him.
"You don't mean, but Captain Yamato said he was the only one to be able to do that since the first Hokage."
"That's because he didn't know about her," Orochimaru continued.
"But how?"
"Don't forget she is the first Hokage's descendent," Kabuto reminded him.
"And Uncle Orochi has been training me for years now," Hikari chirped.
Naruto could see nothing wrong with that, "well that's great, we can get the village rebuilt twice as fast then."
~*~
It would be awhile before the village would be up and functioning as it had been before the attack. Even with Hikari added to the mix, she still wasn't completely recovered and therefore couldn't help out as much as she wanted to. Still the village was coming together nicely, many now had a permanent roof over their heads once again, even if they still had to wait for power and plumbing to be installed.
After the initial battle, morale had been high, everyone celebrated the lack of casualties, but now, with so much work left to do, it was taking its toll on the citizens of Konoha. Not to mention they were still in need of a leader, even if it would only be temporary, the sixth Hokage needed to be named.
And so a month after the attack, Jiraiya sat before the elders, in an attempt to find someone worthy of the title.
"I think it goes without saying that we feel you would be best for the position," Koharu told him seriously.
"I don't want the title, there are better candidates than myself out there," Jiraiya argued.
"We have considered other candidates, none have the level of experience that you do," Homura informed him.
"Then use one of the other candidates, because I refuse the role of Hokage," he was firm in his decision, they knew it too. It was not something they could force upon him.
The they exchanged a look before Koharu spoke again, "I suppose there is no way to change your mind."
It was spoken as more of a statement than a question, but Jiraiya answered anyway, "no, but out of curiosity who are the other candidates?"
"Hatake Kakashi, and Uchiha Itachi," Homura said the latter's name with a frown.
"Itachi? Isn't he a bit young?"
"He may be young but he has shown true loyalty," Koharu pointed out, "there is no one in the village who has gone to the lengths he has to protect the village."
"I cannot deny his loyalty, but you cannot deny the low public opinion he has garnered, he massacred his clansmen," Homura argued.
Jiraiya just sat back listening to their debate, it was now clear what was going on. Koharu wanted Itachi as Hokage and Homura wanted Kakashi, he had to admit both would be well suited to the position. Itachi may be the best choice, the boy was a pacifist and loyal to an extreme, the massacre was a moot point considering that it was now known he had acted on orders. The only reason there was a low public opinion of him was because it was Danzo's orders he had followed, the elders would not admit that they too had supported the massacre, for fear that it would cause the villagers to lose faith in them.
"We will just have to put it to a vote amongst the Jounin, let them decide," Koharu relented, Homura nodded his agreement. The decision would be made within the week.
A/N There were a couple of points that I wasn't entirely happy with in this chapter, particularly Hikari's kekai genkai but I needed away to get the village up and running faster and it was the only option I could think of, also the eye exchange between Sasuke and Itachi, it is something similar to what I have read in other stories so I figured I could tweak it a little bit. Posting might slow down a bit now, as I have just started a course to become a legal assistant so I won't have as much free time. Early morning classes, homework, and three kids (one of which is special needs) makes for a busy schedule, so please if you are a fan of these fics bare with me.
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New Beginnings