“Mom, don't start.” Her father moans.

“Payback's a bitch and all that nonsense.” Kiriko drawls, waving a hand. "Look at this, will you?" She hands the paper she's been working on to Grandma Miri. "I know I've made a mistake somewhere but I'm damned if I can see it."

Miri looks it over two or three times, finally spotting the problem. "Here, you switched two numbers."

"Ahhh, thank you. This has been bugging me for a couple hours." Kiriko fixes the problem and nods, the damn answer is finally making sense. The cost of supplies shouldn't cost that damn much.

"Do we see the new system being used?" Her father asks at the next clan meeting.

"Not right away, the liquids used as a growing medium is the sticking point." The head of the farmers says. "It's not available commercially anywhere around here in the amounts we would need. The cost of bringing it in would be too much until we get the railroad in making frequent trips to bring the costs down." The others nod. "We made plans for double the new mouths when we added all the new fields, both ours and the village's." Everybody nods again.

Sakura sighs as she walks from the hospital to her apartment after another quiet day at the hospital. Most of what she sees is common strains and sprains and overuse by the new graduates and while it keeps her busy, it's not the adventures she dreamed of as a new student at the academy.

She knows she is damn lucky though, she so easily could have lost her life or her leg thanks to Sasuke losing his damn mind. She can still serve the village as a medical nin and Tsunade herself had taken her on as a student while she is still in the village. She still looks off towards the distance every once in a while as if wanting to be elsewhere but swiftly turns her attention back to the here and now.

Which is what Sakura firmly tells herself to do as well. She walks down the streets of the village towards her apartment in the old Uchiha compound, stopping at shops along the way to get the few groceries she needs.

She'd been dismayed and a little upset that she hadn't been affected by the lust bomb that night, wondering how much of her schoolgirl crush on Sasuke had just been youthful fantasies. Most if not all of it she has decided in the cold light of day. She'd been talking to Ino and they're both dismayed at how they acted over him. Their friendship had recovered, thankfully. And she knows her parents are grateful she wasn't affected, they'd been looking at having to raise her child as well as their own since they were just young enough to still have children when it had happened. She was now the older sister of twin brothers.

"Oh hey, Miss Sakura." Konohamaru's voice breaks into her thoughts. "Have you seen the boss? He was going to teach us some new moves." Konohamaru's crew was now an official genin team but still looked up to Naruto. How had she missed everything hidden behind that goofy nature? She'd been too busy fawning over Sasuke trying to get him to notice her she thinks in disgust.

"I'm sorry Konohamaru, I haven't seen him today."

"He's with your grandfather and uncle." Kiriko's voice says from the sidewalk. "The last of the supplies are in the capitol for the new arena and we're off tomorrow to go pick them up."

"Oh cool." He says. "So it's going to be at least a week?"

"Probably closer to two or three since we'll be bringing supplies back to feed and house the people building it when they arrive." She turns to look at Sakura. "Are you coming out this weekend for another training weekend?" Some of the others had taken her in and showed her how to stay in practice even with her limitations. She's happy she can still stay in shape.

"Yes, I'm off since I've covered the last three weekends. The other medical nin are returning from their leaves after they had the babies."

"Things are getting back to normal in the village." Kiriko sighs. Sakura looks around and nods, heading to her apartment. She looks around the room as she enters and takes off her shoes. She didn't realize how much she had depended on her parents before having to move out, how the hell had those students who were orphans and lived on their own did it? How fucking useless had she been as a genin? She had used to sneer at how Naruto and the others brought meals premade at Kiriko's shop, now she does it herself when she had been working ten to twelve hour days six days a week, first in training and then having to cover for so many other people. Walking into the kitchen she puts her purchases away. Looking at the refrigerator and cupboards and finding nothing that interests her, she pulls a meal scroll at random from the shelf and brings one out. It doesn't even matter what she's eating, just eating and washing the dish and silverware to put in a scroll to return to the shop when clean. Just like she's done too many nights before. How had her life turned out so unfulfilling? This isn't what she'd thought her life would be life when she was younger.

The next day the others arrive at the farm, Kiriko using the bathroom before they take to the trees and arriving at the capitol a few days later.

Three weeks later she delivers the supplies, including larger tents, cooking supplies, and food. The Hokage nods in thanks, silently waving the bank president into the room for the money from Kiriko's casino trip, Naruto's casino trip, and the purchases by the Daimyo's wife.

The workers arrive a couple days later and settle into the tents in the training ground that's been removed of all the dangers that would have been found there during a chunin exercise for the safety of the men building the new arena. Naruto had taken a mission to help with the work, opening scrolls of supplies as needed.

A month later the men are heading off with the bonuses from the Hokage burning holes in their pockets. Naruto working with them had cut the job to a fraction of the time they'd expected it to take and nobody is complaining, this way they can get home to their families so much sooner.

"Is this it for the major renovations for a few years?" Kiriko asks her father when he returns from the council meeting.

"Yes, they're still trying to decide if both schools will handle all the students or they need to add onto the academy after the students graduate." Her father sighs. "With the book classes only taking part of the day, they might have morning and afternoon classes."

"They were talking about it before but that was when it was training classes too. With those gone they should easily be able to get in two sessions a day." The others nod.

"Are you okay?" Kiriko asks a couple days later when Sakura brings the dishes back to the shop with the empty scrolls. Sakura starts making excuses then slumps. "No, no I'm not. I'm working ten, twelve hour days first when I was training and now with so many of the others being off. Things are getting better now but I keep asking myself how the hell did my life turn out this way. I had so many dreams and plans and they turned to dust around me. I'm a chunin, but not from proving myself to the village like I had wanted. I wanted Sasuke to notice me and nearly destroyed my relationship with my best friend over it. I used to look down on Naruto for buying pre-made meals, now I live on them myself because when I am home I have no interest in cooking for myself. I don't even care what I eat, it's just grab a scroll and start eating. And some days I have to force myself to do that. I'm beginning to feel as empty as the women we captured. And it scares the living hell out of me."

"Have you talked to anybody? No, not the medical nin." She says, holding up a hand. "Talk to Naruto, talk to Hinata, get together with your former classmates and talk about how things have gone over the past few years." She says firmly.

"Th. . .thank you." she says quietly a few days later. "Everybody else was feeling the same way and everybody thought it was just them. Things have been so different the last few years, it affected everybody."

"Yep, that's what happens when nobody talks about things that are bothering them. Maybe if they had and Sasuke had gotten the help he needed, he might not have turned out to be a psychopath. You are not mindless weapons no matter how the other villages saw their ninja, you have the right to be people. And people have needs. Companionship, even if it's just good friends, is one of them."

In the doorway unseen to Sakura Tsunade nods in agreement, walking away before she can see her.

"Thank you, I'd noticed she was acting stressed." Tsunade tells her granddaughter when she walks into the building after the other woman had left. "Everybody is wore out from the long hours, I didn't realize she was still dealing with the incident with Sasuke, not being an active kunoichi, and feeling alone since she moved out of her family home due to her mother's pregnancy."

"That's why so many clans live in compounds. You're still in your own home but you're surrounded by your family. Some people are not meant to live on their own, I think Sakura is one of them. Before this, she was living with her parents, she had meals prepared for her. She had her laundry done. . . She didn't need to take care of herself because she's the only one there. Now she is. And she can't handle it."

Her grandmother nods. "Of her year, only her and Naruto live on their own. The others live with family. Naruto has lived on his own for years, ever since he got kicked out of the orphanage. He's used to taking care of herself, she wasn't. All I can say is thank god she didn't get pregnant from that time."

"Even as a new genin, I could never see her making it as a kunoichi."

"No, me neither. She was one of those fools who only did it to get attention from the Uchiha." Kiriko's father snorts from the back room. "Meal scrolls? We're running low in the other building."

"Basket on the shelf over the dishwasher, I just toss them in there after I empty them so you need to sort them out."

"Thank you." He finds the basket and starts laying them out, a small item on them to keep them from rolling up and wrapping rubber bands around them when they're sorted out and putting them on the shelves in the other building. "We still need to make new ones." He says finally.

"Yeah." Kiriko sighs, looking at the partially full shallow baskets on the shelves and then the racks in the other room. "Especially if we have to start feeding kids in day care, or the schools." The others nod.

Three weeks later everybody looks around in satisfaction at the full shelves of scrolls ready to be filled and racks of scrolls ready to be purchased. More are upstairs in storage to be used later and Kiriko slides down the ladder from the upstairs, pushing it up until it clicks and then shoving up the trap door leading to the top floor. She turns around to find the Hokage walking into the building. She just gives him a look, the ANBU with him snickering softly.

"How are you on extra scrolls?"

"I've been making them for the last three weeks, the baskets are full in the other building and there's more upstairs. Let me guess, this is where you tell me I need to be getting in more supplies when I go because I'm going to be supplying meals for the daycare centers and the schools?" She drawls. "For the next twenty years at least as clan raised people in the village work on projects. While they can get breakfast and dinner at home, they'll need lunch on the go."

The now audible sniggering from the ANBU is her answer. "Okay, do I at least have until next year to start getting in more supplies? And how many different meals are we looking at?" she asks in exasperation.

They calmly agree on prices, the meals, and the distribution of the scrolls, the Hokage handing over the deed for the building on the other side of the shop and the orders to have it cleaned, supplied, and linked to the shop.

"I take it you heard?" Kiriko asks dryly, leaning in the next room. "Copy these out." she hands the recipes to Neji. "And talk to anybody you know who will be looking at a semi-permanent job cooking. We start making meals in the other building summer next year. With delivery to the day care centers the first of the following year."

The mothers in the room nod. "Yes, by that time the children will be able to feed themselves."

The chunin start working with the younger genin when the crops start coming in, nobody is surprised when Konohamaru's team immediately gravitates towards Naruto as their leader. Three long months later for the genin the last of the crops are either put away in warehouses, sent out by wagon train to be processed in the capitol and made into stuff, or put away at the farm.

The Daimyo's lips twitch as he looks at Kiriko when he summons her to the palace finding her buying extra supplies when she goes out for her end of the year trip.

"Oh go ahead and laugh, my father fell to the floor cackling like the idiot he is." Kiriko sighs after the story is told. "I felt like stepping on him somewhere painful but my mother would no doubt complain. At least the triplets are finally sleeping through the night now." That sets him off howling. His wife pats her on the shoulder in a there, there gesture, her own lips twitching madly.

Three weeks later she returns to Konoha, shoving scrolls at Madi. "Cooking supplies, dishes, and silverware for the new meals." She nods and puts everything in storage until it's needed. "How's the work coming on the new building?"

"Cleaning is done, they're painting right now. Then the appliances and tables will be going in. The supplies will be the last thing going in before they start working."

"Supplies for the old building." Those are brought out and put away. "More supplies for here, including extra dishes and silverware." Those are brought out and put away until needed. "No orders for the store?"

"My first stop after the bank." The rest of the purchases are handed out over the next couple of days. She slumps into her seat at the clan meeting the night after everything's been delivered.

"Is that everything?"

"Until my next trip out next year." She sighs. "Now, I've been hearing rumors about a special demonstration at the arena for the final academy graduates next year?"

"Yes, I've been hearing the same thing. It's going to be a special event and the Hokage has invited the Daimyo and other dignitaries."

The night air is cool and Kiriko lights a fire in the fireplace when she gets back home with the special fuel from the land of snow. The cats immediately lay in front of it as she warms herself by the fire, adding extra blankets to the bed. She's always tired after these trips. At least she's got a fireplace in her home and not having to burn the dried animal droppings so many other people have to she's seen on her trips. The others who do any amount of traveling away from the village agree with her.

"Is it just me. . .?" Kiriko asks the next morning.

"No, if feels like a storm is blowing in. Everybody is cold this morning, everybody's got on long sleeves and pants." Her mother says quietly as she checks momentarily on the triplets to make sure they're not in a draft even though every window and door in the building is shut up tight.

The rain starts coming down a few hours after the sky gets dark and they hurry back to the homes with food from the main house to keep them fed until after the storm breaks.

It's a couple days later when she reopens the shop, unless you had to be out in that weather nobody had been. And unless you were a village guard, nobody had been outside. The sensors had agreed it had been a normal storm, not forced or influenced in any way.

The others start coming in a few minutes later, heat coming through the cracked open door as the stoves are turned on so they can start cooking. The bell rings over the door and she looks over to find Sakura shaking her waterproof cloak off before coming inside. She slides scrolls across the desk, grabbing new ones off the shelves and getting a scroll handed to her after she pays and walks back outside on her way to her shift at the hospital.

Tossing the now empty scrolls in the basket she finishes filling the dishwasher and starts it running.

A couple of weeks later is the end of the year celebration at the farm again, this time Sakura being invited along with the others. She shyly settles herself in a seat, Naruto wrapping an arm around her in an absent hug among friends as he talks with Neji who'd also been invited.

"Do you. . .I understand you're going to be offering meals for the children." Sakura asks a few days later.

"Yes, we start cooking them after the special graduation exercise for the Academy and will start delivering them next year. Are you looking for another job? Not getting enough time at the hospital? Or feeling burned out?"

"A bit of both. With so many people coming back my hours are being cut. And with the loss of the other villages there's not that big of a need for so many medical nin."

"Well, you can come to work for me whenever you need." Kiriko says calmly. "There will be enough workers that you can learn everything you need."

"Thank you, what few meals that I can cook are hit and miss. It's not something my mother bothered to teach me. And the first time out of the village. . ." she looks at her leg sadly. "May that bastard Sasuke burn in hell."

"Little bastard should have been dragged to heel years ago but the former civilian council fawned all over him thinking his eyes were so damn special." Kiriko says in agreement. "The fact that I could easily hit him showed the Hokage he needed more training. But he thought he was so special and you paid the price for his stupidity. Now, a little homework for you. Go to the Tower library and look up the clans that have died out in Konoha over the years. Except for those lost in wars, there's usually a reason why they were lost. And that was something the damn council never wanted students to know."

In the doorway to the cooking building a woman nods firmly as Sakura walks off. "That's why so many clans have their own history lessons for their children. But that doesn't help the civilians or orphans."

"Yep." Kiriko sighs. "And we're going to have to start writing down what happened, how the village is changing. And why." She nods and heads back inside.

The Hokage settles across the table from where Sakura is looking at various scrolls that the retired ninjas had tried keeping her from and had been stopped. "Is what Kiriko said true? The reason why this was never mentioned was the former civilian council?" She asks quietly.

"Yes, the more powerful the clan, the more likely something will happen. The Hyuga lost a lot of power first from the elders trying to seal Neji's eyes after being told no and then that fool woman trying to steal Kiriko's business. They were too long in power."

"Just like the civilians."

"Yes."

A couple months later an announcement for everybody in the village to gather outside the Tower for an announcement unless otherwise busy happens.

"Not going?" Shikamaru's mother asks Kiriko.

"I already know what it's about, revealing the truth about Naruto's heritage." The older woman nods in understanding and goes back to what they'd been doing. The ANBU is busy making a second sweep of village for stragglers and nods in understanding when he sees her not moving from her spot. She's bounced off her chair by the screaming and sourly picks herself up, the others sniggering in the other room at the rude comments she makes about the absolute fucking stupidity of people who can't see the forest for the trees.

"I mean come on, the damn face on the Hokage monument looks just like Naruto since 'somebody' painted them." Kiriko says in disgust. "This couldn't have fucking waited until I was gone in two days?"

"That's why he announced it now." Shikamaru's mother says, rolling her eyes. "Unless Naruto wasn't going on this trip?"

"Nope, just me."

Naruto quickly runs through the shop, shutting himself in the empty building. "Lemme guess, now that they know who he is, they're all. . .oh, we're ssssooooooo sorry we treated you sooooooo bad." Kiriko sighs. She and everybody else can almost hear the nod from behind the door. "While you're there, start laying out the baskets on the shelves for the scrolls." She says absently.

The furor is still going when she leaves a couple days later and she's not surprised to find Gai's team waiting for her at the farm. "The Hokage admits that maybe springing the news now hadn't been such a good idea." Tenten says dryly. "The civilians still alive that had been treating Naruto poorly are being targeted by other civilians who aren't getting business from ninjas now. They also realize how much money Naruto has now, both from these trips and his parents money. A good portion of the village that you don't own he does." Naruto twitches for a second.

They arrive back to the village three weeks later, Naruto finally having calmed down. The civilians on the street merely nod at they stop at the Tower to announce their return and Naruto and Kiriko wait for the bank president to arrive for their deposits.

"Is everything finally settled back down? We took a few days extra just in case." Kiriko says when he leaves with the ANBU escort.

"Yes, the fools that had blamed Naruto for Minato's death agree that a parent might die protecting their child." The Hokage says, rolling his eyes. "There were a few beatings of the stupidest of the civilians, Tsunade refused to allow them to be treated at the hospital so they have to recover on their own once any broken bones were set."

"Oh Jiji, whatever happened to the Uchiha money that he was so damn proud of?"

"What money, he was the only one left and not making any just starting out. His clan never bothered to save anything, they thought they were so special and that the village owed them everything they wanted." An ANBU says sourly. The Hokage sighs but nods in agreement. "Yes, he routinely came in asking if we'd finally found the missing Uchiha money until the bank president showed him that there wasn't any money in the accounts. The clan was land rich, but money poor. Like yourself he was having to sit down and budget everything and hated every second of it. Especially after he was placed on permanent punishment and had no money coming in. While the orphan budget was degrading, it was money coming in monthly to feed and house him until he could start making money on missions." The Hokage looks at him.

"I was wondering why Sakura didn't get it for what happened. I know she's working in the hospital but with so many people returning to work and how quiet it is now. . ."

"Because she was a kunoichi on a mission and officially it could have been construed as an accident and not a deliberate attack like the actions of the Hyuga against both Neji and myself." Kiriko says quietly. "Add the fact she's a civilian with nobody backing her up, she was left to sink or swim on her own. Add in her prickly personality. . .it was a bad combination." The Hokage nods sadly. "Though she is going to be working with us making meals after the academy closes, like you said the hospital is quiet and with so many people coming back from being off for the babies. . .her hours are being cut. Not to mention even there not being part of a clan is hurting her." The Hokage sighs and nods again.

"You know, I really think the Izuno do have a kekkei genkai." The ANBU says after Kiriko and Naruto have left. "And it's called having some common sense. And being a dozen steps ahead of everybody and just waiting for us to catch up." The Hokage sniggers but nods.

"Is Tsunade sticking around?" Kiriko asks at the clan meeting after she's finished delivering everything.

"No, the hospital doesn't need her anymore and she's happiest on the move. Being around here, reminds her too much of everything. . .and everyone, she lost being a shinobi, her parents, her grandfather and great-uncle, her brother, her lover. . ." The others nod. "Seeing the village moving towards the life she wishes she could have had, a life where she might have had more children than just your mother. . .it hurts her." Grandma Miri says. "Unlike your grandfather who's just a womanizing fool and I still don't know how he hasn't died from a disease he got off his whoring."

"Oh, did he figure out if Naruto can do the Namikaze clan kekkei genkai?" She asks.

"Him and Hinata working together since her chakra is water. And since they're so ooey gooey in love it's not a hardship." Kiriko snickers.

"Okay, are you ready for the new orders?"

"Yes, I got the last of the supplies we needed, we just start working on them after the graduation exercise. And with everybody who is anybody being there, I see any ninja in the village stocking up on supplies before it happens." The others nod. "I'll stick around the other stores, that's where the business will be coming in." The others nod.

"When are we going to expect the visitors to start arriving?"

"Two weeks, with staying in the village for three weeks. The graduation exercise will be two weeks, each student will be fighting no less than three times, some five. There's also going to be exhibitions of the older genin and Chunin."

Kiriko looks up from the sounds of the streets, finding the Daimyo's wife walking down the street to the Izuno shops. She catches her eye and smiles.

"Oh thank god, that is over." Kiriko moans five weeks later. The others are just as quiet as everybody slumps into seats in the main building. They'd made meals up ahead of time and open scrolls so people can eat and go to bed.

Sakura is quiet the first morning she arrives at the shop to work, Naruto pulling her into the second building and handing her an apron to put on over her clothes. "Our job is to help prepare the ingredients and give it to the others."

"The other building?"

"Neji still works there, and Tenten and Lee are working there too."

"Your whole team?"

"No missions except for trips to escort Kiriko on trips to get in supplies." He says, shaking his head. "It's steady money and if we need to be elsewhere it's come back when you're done."

Kiriko looks in the buildings and nods.

"Is it just me or is the village too quiet?" Madi asks a few hours later when she comes in from her classes.

"Everybody is waiting to exhale after knowing the Daimyo is gone. The Academy is shut down but they're still waiting on their new genin teams because of how they showed at the graduation exercises. I'm sure some teams will be switched around."

A week later genins start trooping into the shop in groups of ten or fifteen people being shown where to find the supplies they need for missions in and out of the village. The emergency supplies for those working in the sewers is pointedly shown. Some of the students whimper but at the news that everybody takes turns working down there because this is an essential part of keeping the village running they quiet down.

This is repeated four more times that day and for the next five days until the last of the new genin know where to find the scrolls they will need on their missions.

The first time one of the genin teams are forced to work the sewers Kiriko brays with laughter.

"Sewers?" One of the clan women asks from the doorway.

"Oh yes, no matter how often they're told everybody does this they still think we're joking."

In the Tower the Hokage shakes his head but laughs in agreement. "They'll learn, we all did."

"I wonder how many went home sobbing?" Kiriko laughs as she shuts the door for the night.

"All of them, but the clan raised kids will be told to get over it." one of the clan women snorts as she walks in the direction of her home. "And the civilian kids don't have the power to have Mommy or Daddy run and tell the Hokage everybody is being mean to them. . .now."

"The farm?" Naruto asks quietly.

"The waste from the buildings go into a pit and the chemicals used in the sewer are also used on the farm." Kiriko says. "There are some poorer farms where it was collected in containers thrown onto the same piles the animal waste was and used for the fields but we don't have to go that far. Yes," She says at his quiet shudder, "The tanks are part of the plans for your home. With earth jutsus, it's easy enough to create the pit."

"For one building." Her father snorts. "As you add more buildings it gets creative."

"He's talking about my home." Kiriko drawls, looking at Naruto. "It was a bit of work adding onto the pit and laying pipe from my house to it. We could have made a second pit you know, you've been talking about it for years."

"My baby was growing up." he mock wails.

Kiriko rolls her eyes, the guards at the gate sniggering at her father's antics. They've seen it a million times before.

"Okay," Grandma Miri says later that night at the clan meeting. "Has anybody had any experience with those newfangled phones the Daimyo was talking about?" She looks at Kiriko since she does the most traveling in the clan.

"I've seen them used at the palace, it's similar to the setup that the Daimyos use to stay in touch or for the Hokage to contact the Daimyo but audio only, not video and audio like theirs. Some can also be used to transmit information. If the village was still sending off teams, I might see something like this being used. . ." The others nod. "But with everybody sticking close to the village except for those genin teams that are long gone. . ." More nods. "Or jonin off on special assignment." Nods again.

"What about computers?"

"I know the Tower staff uses them but I don't see the need for them for the rest of the village right away except something that's a status symbol. Until we're falling all over scrolls of information, then we can get a computer, put everything in that, and put the scrolls away for a backup."

"We can also sort the scrolls into bigger scrolls for more room. Either by area or date."

"Okay, are we needing to enlarge the bathing building?"

"We have been talking about it." Grandma Miri says slowly. "Maybe add a second building, one for men and one for women."

"Something to think about in future expansion plans.

"Railroad?"

"Started laying track this direction but it will be years before we have train service."

"Yeah, they'll be stopping at every village that can be called a village on the way to us."

"Has anybody heard anything about the land of Wave and airships?"

"Yes, the man who was in charge of rebuilding the arena, Tuna?"

"Tazuna."

"Oh right, I knew that didn't make sense but some people have weird names. Anyway, he's working on a fleet of them to transport people and products. I know the land of snow uses them."

"Why do I see some of them on the plateau?" Kiriko sighs.

"Because that's something the Hokage and Daimyo would do? And it would be a faster way to deliver crops." Grandma Miri says. "And I'm sure the idiot nobles would pay through the nose to be special and go on trips nowhere fast."

The next day Kiriko's father repeats the conversation. "Yes, the Daimyo and I have been in conversations about bringing out an airship, specifically for those reasons." He sighs.

"What is the status on the missing genin teams?" The Hokage asks after Kiriko's father has left the tower.

"Nothing has been seen or heard of them. Normally it's not a problem, but they should have found a way to get in touch with the village by now." One of the ANBU says. "Not to cast doubt on their abilities, but we have to consider the idea that some of them are dead."

"Most of them, it's been years." Another sighs. "I don't know what type of missions the fourth might have sent them on if he did since there's nothing listed in their records, he kept a lot of things close to his chest. And if they were to show up now, they'd have to have a good explanation for why they've been out of touch for so long. An explanation including a lot of time in T&I explaining why they shouldn't be considered missing nins."

"Bingo books?"

"All the ones listed in ours and we could get from the other villages are dead. Either in the attempted invasion or some calamity or another. Akatsuki appears to be dead, the members we were able to identify are deceased. Orichimaru is locked away in a box, never to escape his body again. He was seeking immortality. He found it but not the way he wanted."

"Yes." the Hokage says quietly.

Kiriko slides into the hot water of the bathing building. "Is it just me or are we expecting a storm?"

"Nothing in the forecast but not the first time one came in suddenly." Madi chuckles softly. Kiriko snickers, they both know that the new genin teams will have to be out in the middle of it.

"Girls behave, they'll soon get over the self-entitlement of new genins and either settle down to work for the village or wash out." Grandma Miri chuckles, she's been thinking the same thing. One good thing about being retired, she can stay inside any damn time she wants.

The next day Kiriko shudders under the waterproof cloak as she opens the door, the others shaking off their gear and making their way inside the buildings as Kiriko strikes a match on the stove by the back wall, the heat of the pellets invented by the land of snow for heat during their perpetual winter warming the building.

"No, you can't come in here complaining that Sakura Haruno is working elsewhere in the village when you have been cutting her hours for weeks." The Hokage says firmly. "If you're embarrassed because she has to have another job so she can afford to eat and keep a roof over her head, good. She worked long days first training and then having to cover the hospital when the others were off with their babies."

"Wellll. . .yes,” the head of the hospital finally sighs. "But she was making so much money from the hospital, that's one of the reasons I cut her hours. But now everybody is talking bad about the hospital."

"Good." The Hokage sneers. "Now go away you little fool and if I ever hear you complaining about an employee having to have a second job to survive you will find yourself replaced with somebody with some decency and you'll be the one having to work a different job to survive." She runs off sobbing. "Idiot woman, can't have it both ways as Kiriko would no doubt say.” He looks out the windows at the rain pouring sheets. "So how many new genin are whining at having to be out in this?"

"Most of them, even the clan raised are realizing that while they were able to go inside to dry off and train another day before, they can't now that they're genin." An ANBU says, chuckling softly.

"Really, you little fool." A merchant asks his wife scathingly. "Do we have a place for all those women to work? Do we have the money for all those supplies? Do we have people who can seal all that food? Try thinking for a second instead of whining and you might realize why we don't have the business she does." He continues to rail at her foolishness, leaving her sobbing because as she keeps blubbering she was just trying to help.

"She puts in a lot of work making sure her businesses run smoothly. The Hokage knows this, he knows that she will get the job done. If you were in charge of it like you're whining you'd screw everything up."

"But I could do it too." She wails. Her husband laughs nastily. "You don't cook now."

"But everytime I pass the shop, I just see her sitting behind the counter." She wails. "I have to actually workkkkkk. . ."

"And that is why my soon to be former wife went crying through the streets of the village saying her husband was trying to kill her." Her husband says, standing in front of the Hokage. "I told her to get a second job if she wanted the oodles and gobs of money she sees the shop making."

"What I figured." the Hokage says sourly. "I take it you're wanting to dissolve the marriage?"

"Please, she was my parents decision and I've been miserable this entire time. We never had children and she has a job so she can easily rent an apartment."

She lays sobbing on the floor of the apartment that she has to live in now instead of the house she had wanted to be bigger as befitting her station in life. Like her now former husband had wanted, she's working two jobs and picking up extra work cleaning homes. She'd been so sure life would be better than this if she could just have gotten the scroll shop away from Kiriko. She. . .she. . .she's not even a prostitute, the working women laughed at her. At HER. Telling her she was too ugly inside and out to be making any money.

"Why would I come back?" Sakura sneers as she looks at the woman wailing across the desk. "You told me I wasn't needed or wanted here. You're having to work yourself since some of the others left? Good." She turns around and walks out, finding her former coworkers gathered outside the door. They look at her a moment and start clapping. She's smiling as she walks out the door.

"Think we should drug the little fool?"

"If we do that, she won't be able to handle her shift. Get to work moron, you still have all that laundry down in the basement that needs to be washed." The administrator screams louder. She hadn't listened to the Hokage's orders to stop playing with Sakura's hours and been caught with her pants down when two of the medical nin who'd returned from being off with their babies had left the hospital again. And another had left on an extended leave to nurse a family member through a wasting disease that would prove to be fatal.

She'd tried demanding Sakura return to the hospital but the Hokage had gotten word of her actions from the others and had shut down her attempts demanding her to quit working for Kiriko and accept unpaid hours at the hospital. Because she owed it to them. And had been told no. She'd tried increasing her afternoon and night shifts instead and been told no again. She'd demanded her attendance at the hospital just now and hadn't gotten what she wanted now either.

"So, you're off from the hospital for good?" Naruto asks the next day.

"Yes, they really didn't want me back. But the little fool in charge had gone whining to the Hokage since I was working here to cover my bills." The clanswomen in both rooms snort in disgust as everybody gets ready to work. "They had three medical nin leave, two decided they wanted to spend more time with their babies and the last is nursing a family member through a wasting disease." The others sigh and nod their heads in silent thanks that their families and anybody else they care about is disgustingly healthy. "Little fool was playing power games and wanted me to work at the hospital without pay. Because I owed it to them."

"Idiot."

"Too long in power, she thought she was all that when we were at the Academy together. Little bitch thought she was so special." One of the women says as they start working. "I hear stories that a lot of the people working at the hospital got yelled at by Tsunade and the Hokage?" She asks Sakura.

"Yes, rumor has it a lot of them ended up in T&I and never returned to the hospital. She was sulking because Lady Tsunade made a lot of changes to the hospital that needed to happen, the hospital is running so much better now, and she's sulking because she can't go back to the way it was before." The others make poor baby sounds or bray with laughter. "And to add insult to injury, with so many people gone now she has to work herself. Scut work, like emptying bedpans and doing laundry."

More poor baby sounds. "Like that fool who went running through the streets claiming her husband was trying to kill her. All he told her was to get a second job if she wanted more money, she didn't like me sitting behind the counter here and thought she could handle everything just as good."

"Oh bullshit, its only you bringing in the supplies that allow us to make everything so cheap." Shikamaru's mother says, rolling her eyes. "They'd have to pay the cost of shipping everything and the prices would double. The Hokage knows this." A shadow has Kiriko running outside.

"What the fuck is that?" Naruto asks.

"That," Kiriko sighs. "Is an airship created by your friend from Wave Tazuna. He sees it as a way for goods to get to different places quickly. The Daimyo sees it as a way for his idiot nobles to show off by going nowhere fast."

"Doesn't the land of snow uses something similar?"

"Yes they do. That and the railroad."

"I hear rumors we're going to be getting it?"

"They started laying tracks this direction but it will be years before it arrives."

"Where?"

"The plateau over the Hokage monument. And it will be even longer for passenger service. I see it more as a way to deliver harvests in the beginning." The others nod and head back inside.

"But nobody's coming to see us land." One of the nobles on board wails as they hover over the plateau and wait to make a grand entrance.

"Of course they're not, nobody knew we were coming and they have better things to do than dance attendance on you." The captain of the ship says as they head back towards the capital.

The nobles go wailing to the Daimyo and are told to grow up, what did they think would happen if nobody knows they were coming by airship? They run off sobbing that nobody is taking their sides, saying they're just going to lay down and die at what happened.

"Make sure you don't lay down somewhere where people have to work." The Daimyo's wife calls after one of the whiners. "People got things to do and places to go, they don't need to step over. . .or on. . .your worthless carcass." They run off screeching louder, how can they be so cruel to them?

"Fucking idiots, that's why I didn't pay to have that special trip out." The Daimyo mutters later that night after he's finished with serious court appointments for the day.

"They expected everybody to drop what they were doing and rush to them for the privilege of being in the same area as them. Unlike those fools, many people actually work for a living. Anybody who would come running to them would actually be working for the airship company and too busy doing their jobs to dance attendance to them."

"But the whole wide world owes it to them to remind them daily how special they are." His wife says sourly. "For everybody in the court that actually works for a living, we have several dozen only here to be seen."

The whole clan is laughing that night, imagining the looks of dismay on the faces of the idiot nobles who were being 'disrespected' because nobody had come running.

"I almost wish some of the fools would come rushing to the Hokage, whining." Kiriko snickers. "Ummm ooopps, I kinda tortured some of your nobles to insanity for annoying me. I hope you don't mind." Her mother says dryly in imitation of the Hokage.

"Please, you want to come and deal with some more of the whiners?" Her father says in imitation of the Daimyo. The others laugh and nod, everybody can see just that happening.

"Okay, other news. How are we coming along on the new meals?"

"Good, there's supposed to be somebody there who can use chakra to unseal the meals, wash them, and reseal the dishes and silverware. We'll be dropping off enough meals for the week and somebody will deliver them to the shop at the end of the week." Grandma Miri nods in satisfaction. "The arrangements will probably change when the students start school and they need more. Maybe two or three times a week if not daily."

"Did you hear, the Hokage fined that fool woman who was in charge of the hospital?" Kiriko says a few days later when she unlocks the shop for the others.

"Really?" Sakura stops and stares at her.

"Yeah, seems some of the older medical nin didn't like a newbie coming in who might take their cushy jobs so close to retirement. Add in the fact that you're a civilian. . ." The others nod in nearly unison. "They were frantically trying to hold onto their position of power. Because with the changes the village is going through."

"They were losing it and miserable." Shikamaru's mother says. "The Hyuga elders case in point."

"Yep, now they're working the long hours they put Sakura through at the hospital at punishment wages along with that fool, so now they're all looking at working two jobs to make enough money to live on. At the hospital and wherever else the Hokage puts them."

"Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of assholes."

"Too many people wanting things to stay the way it is or take what other people have worked hard to achieve." Another clan woman snorts. "That fool woman who tried claiming her former husband was trying to kill her. She's now working two jobs and cleaning houses weekends. She couldn't even get a place with the working women, nobody would pay to fuck her." The older women bray with laughter as the younger people blush.

"Still so innocent." Shikamaru's mother says, patting them on the cheeks. She looks at Kiriko who just snorts. "My parents?"

"True."

"So that's it." Kiriko's father says a couple days later. "The Hokage is looking at setting up a building on the plateau that in a few years that will work for both the railroad when it arrives and the airships. It will be a while before it's used for anything beyond transportation of the crops, same with the railroad." Everybody in the clan at the meeting nods.

"Plans?"

"They're working on it right now, as well as a way to get the harvests up to the plateau and the people down. Like the Hokage said, it won't be used for a while and if need be, somebody like Naruto's team with everything in scrolls putting it onboard here."

"Are we hiring the new genin teams for the harvests?"

"No, they're too new yet. Give them another year. We didn't have problems last year with the chunin and the older genin teams." The others nod.

A month or so later the chunin and genin teams descend on the farm and the village's fields, quickly setting to work. There's a few hiccups as people get used to working in the fields again but six weeks later carts are sent off with harvests to be processed as more is put away in buildings on the farm or warehouses in the village.

"It's a lot of work." Naruto sighs.

"And it's just going to get worse as the babies grow older and start eating more solid food. The Hokage has already warned us that the fields are going to be double or triple the size we have now." Naruto moans slightly but nods.

"Are we still going to be sending off food by carts?" Hinata asks quietly.

"Not much longer, there's no chance of bandits but it's going to be too many carts. Naruto's friend Tazuna, the one with the airship?" They nod. "Is going to be picking up the food and delivering it as needed, it's both faster and takes less manpower. I also see traders using the service."

"Yes, instead of traveling for days and hiring escorts, they can be there in a day."

Kiriko is called to the Tower a few days later. Her father looks at her when she returns. "They decided on a building design for up on the plateau, basically a warehouse for now. . ." Her father nods in understanding. "And when I go off to deliver the orders for the Daimyo's wife I'm to get as much of it as I can. He understands it's going to be at least two trips."

"And at least a year to be needed after that. Either for the railroad or the airship." Her mother says that night at the clan meeting.

Everybody in the room nods. "Now us, do we need to add more buildings to the farm for storage?"

The elders tip their heads sideways, looking at walls as if seeing through them to the various storage buildings outside.

"Possibly, but not for years in the future. We planned ahead and made the buildings much, much, much larger than we needed when we brought them with future crops in mind. Now mind you, Kiriko," Grandma Miri waves a finger the other woman's direction as she starts to snicker. "We never had an invasion and the village growing so quickly so soon in mind when we made the plans."

"And need be, we can put stuff in scrolls until it's needed." Another clan elder says. "Not like anything goes to waste here."

"No, we know how much time and effort goes into producing it. Unlike the new genin."

"The only thing they know about food is eating it."

"Madi." Kiriko calls a month later.

"Go off to our regular customers and the other shops for their lists and money?" Madi asks, leaning against the doorway of the back room where she'd been working on her assignments.

"Yes, tell them two weeks from Monday. And have the order and money for me the Friday before that."

Kiriko returns to the village three weeks after she had headed off with Naruto's team, sliding two scrolls across the Hokage's desk. "The supplies for the building with what I was able to get marked off." She nods at one. He nods in appreciation and takes the case with the remaining money. "And reports from my grandparents and the Daimyo." He nods again. "Bank?"

"Yes, for Naruto and myself."

The bank president arrives and gives them receipts for their money, including the payments from the Daimyo's wife and her ladies.

The shops are the first stops, Madi taking the scrolls of supplies and bringing everything out with the help of the others.

"Money?" One of the women asks as Kiriko walks into the shop.

"Already deposited at the bank." She hands over the receipt and the clanswoman overseeing the finances nods in satisfaction as the new orders are brought out as well as the supplies they'd needed and extra for the new orders.

"Oh good." She says.

"I knew we'd need extra. Especially in the future with the airship making travel so easy."

The women in the shop sigh but nod. "It's good money though."

"And easier travel for you."

The rest of the orders are delivered over the next couple of days, the others thanking her and settling into work.

The merchants in the village that don't use Kiriko's delivery service wail in front of the Hokage as they are told she does not have to deliver for them. Yes, her services are cheaper than having it delivered. She does this as favors for people she likes. She doesn't like you. So no, I'm not going to ask her to deliver to you as well. You can use the delivery services you have previously and like.it. Because if you demand she deliver for you, she'd laugh in your faces. And if you try forcing the matter, she'd walk over your bleeding bodies.

The merchants wail but know they have no way of forcing the issue. They're among the group that had attacked Naruto and had lost a lot of power once his true parentage had been revealed.

The end of the year celebration is hopping at the Izuno compound. Sakura is getting used to being welcomed by the Izuno clan and her friends. She's not the only one who's not an active ninja now and she knows her place in the community. The idiots at the hospital were wailing to anybody who listened that it wasn't fair that they were being punished for their actions. Nobody was paying any attention to them however, which was the worst hardship in their eyes.

"I didn't expect you to be delivering the scrolls Kiriko," the clanswoman who is running the day care center says when Kiriko hands over the scroll with the meals.

"I needed to get outside and walk around for a few minutes." She says. "The damn weather. . ." she nods, it doesn't know whether to rain or not and if you can be outside for a few minutes for some fresh air, you go outside. Then hurry right back inside because it's so cold.

"Yes, I know the children want to go outside and play but with the weather the way it is." She sighs. "Thank you for preparing the meals. It's one less thing the working parents have to deal with."

"What's going on?" Kiriko asks, returning to the shop and seeing a man and woman who look vaguely familiar walking down the street. The doorway is full of people watching them walking away so she must have missed a confrontation.

"Sakura's parents. Idiots pushed her off when they had twins and now they're working two jobs and have to have the babies in day care. They were trying to guilt her into quitting and returning home to take care of the babies and the house, have meals on the table waiting on them." Shikamaru's mother says is disgust. "Needless to say, everybody told them where to go and what they could do when they got there."

"Idiots."

"But if she's taking care of them and the house, we don't have to buy meals, pay for somebody else to take care of the babies. . ." Madi says scathingly. "Try being a damn grownup instead of a two year old."

The story of what her parents had tried doing is soon all over the village and everybody looks at them in disgust. "For gods sake," one of the other village women says in disgust. "Many places are working two shifts, one of you work days and one nights so you can clean the house, cook meals, and take care of the babies if you can't afford to keep them in daycare. Or hire somebody to cook meals for you and clean your home."

"But everybody's talking bad about us now." Mebuki wails.

"Good, you threw your daughter away without any damn life skills." The other woman snorts. "It's only working for Kiriko that she knows how to cook more than basic meals. As she said, she lived on the meals Kiriko says because living on her own left her numb. Maybe you'd know that if you ever bothered to look in on her once in a while instead of forgetting she existed until you needed something from her." Kizashi moans. Why had he never even looked in on his daughter since the boys were born? Did he think so little of her now that he has two fine, strong sons.

"I. . .I didn't realize it had been so long since we saw Sakura. We. . .we visited her at the apartment. . .didn't we?" Mebuki wails. She frantically is looking through her diaries and finds nothing about her daughter for years. "Please, tell me we had her come home for Sunday dinners. Tell me we invited her home for Sunday dinners." She wails, collapsing to the floor in great big heaping sobs.

"Damn fool, she's more sobbing about how she's being seen by the village than anything else." One of the clan women says. "She had this majestic fantasy and real life is kicking it in the ass. Her daughter would take care of them their entire lives. Now they need her and she doesn't need. . .or want them." The others nod.

Her parents soon quit their histrionics when nothing happens and they go back to their lives, having to split their schedules to they can be home part of the day to cook and clean.

"Isn't that what most parents do if they can, work different schedules?" Madi snorts as they walk onto the farm.

"Yes, but I doubt they thought their daughter wouldn't come running home the second they paid her any attention. They realized how much work two babies was and thought, oh hey yeah, we have a daughter who can cook for us, clean for us. . ."

"Kiss our asses and wipe our noses." Kiriko's mother says scathingly. "One thing about being in the clan, there's always somebody to take care of you and teach you everything you need to live on your own.

Kiriko lights the stove the next morning, the others nodding as they walk into the cooking rooms and soon the heat comes out of the buildings as they start cooking.

"So how are Sakura's parents faring?" Shikamaru's mother asks quietly.

"Still working two jobs, splitting their times so somebody is home with the boys While the other is at work. This way there's somebody there to clean the house and cook meals."

"Not enough money for just one of them to work while the other stays home?"

"No. Not without the base pay of Sakura as a chunin. They were both working full-time as soon as Sakura was old enough to attend the Academy. They lost a good bit of power when Naruto's parentage was revealed."

"And more when people realized how they threw Sakura away without giving her the training she needed to live on her own. I really doubt the academy taught cooking, how to do laundry, clean your apartment, budgeting. . ."

"Something the orphans were taught. And those who had families that actually cared about them." Shikamaru's mother sighs. Walking into the other building she hugs Naruto and Sakura and goes back to work. She's already hugged Neji, Tenten, and Lee. Who all need it.

"You know. . ." Kiriko says with a mean smirk. "They have days off work. They could work a day in the sewers and probably make just as much money as they do working their regular jobs."

Naruto and Sakura slowly repeat what Kiriko said and start laughing. "They would be horrified. But I agree, it's good money."

Mebuki sobs brokenheartedly as she sees her husband off for his day of work in the sewers. She'll be working there tomorrow. It's extra money coming in, but at a horrible price.

"Damn drama queens, you'd think she was sending him off to his death." A neighbor says, closing the door of her house.

"In her eyes, it probably is death. The death of her dreams and schemes to be somebody in the village." her husband snorts. "I'm glad we weren't able to have more kids."

"I am too, ours are grown and out of the house able to live life on their own. I hate to see how the boys will turn out from how she raised her daughter."

"Oh, but a boy won't need to know how to cook, clean, do laundry, or even wipe his own ass after he goes to the bathroom. He'll have a wife for that." Their brother-in-law drawls as he comes into the house. They'd made plans for the day which include a new movie and visiting their favorite restaurant.

The next day is a repeat of the day before and more eyes are rolling at their theatrics. Fucking morons is the nicest thing said about them and they sullenly settle down the histrionics when they realize nobody is going to come running with cases of cash.

"Fucking morons." Sakura sighs when she walks into the scroll shop. "Yes, I heard all about it from the neighbors who heard them and gleefully told me they were back to their usual nonsense. Yes, they did this before. The sad thing is I'm sure they'll have to do this again next weekend since they never bothered to actually save any money. Even before they had the boys."

"Isn't their home paid off?"

"No, they borrowed money from the bank to add onto it before I moved out. So they could be seen. If they could have had their own compound, they would have."

Kiriko rolls her eyes. "Please, this is the woman who tried getting on the civilian council because she thought she was all that." Sakura says as she puts on her apron and they start to work. "Now I know just how powermad my parents are. If we lived in the capital, I can see them trying to get an in with the Daimyo and his wife."

"I am so glad the Izuno clan keeps their head down and works for a living." Kiriko mutters. The others laugh but nod.

Kiriko shakes her head as she passes the house that had been identified as belonging to Sakura's parents on her way to the Tower. Too opulent for two civilians, that's something that would be seen on the palace grounds in the capital.

"How is the meals coming along?" The Hokage asks, waving her to a seat.

"Good, we're delivering to the day care buildings consistently and storing some away for the future when the schools reopen in a couple of years. I have already planned on doubling my supplies over the next ten to fifteen years, leaving some in scrolls until needed." Hiruzen nods in satisfaction.

Sakura's parents sob quietly as they force themselves to work in the sewers, part of the extra money is going to pay off the loan they took out to add onto their home, which they realize now they never needed. Oh, everybody in the village is 'seeing' them alright, and nobody is impressed. But hopefully they can start saving some money once the loan is paid off.

"Doubt it." is said by more than one neighbor. "They both liked to spend. . .on themselves."

"Yup." Sakura says a few days later when the gossip reaches the scroll shop. "All the time, anytime they needed to get something for me, they had to have something for themselves. I didn't know it then, but I was well rid of them when they turned me out because they had the twins to think of. Or so they claimed."

"Are we going to have enough supplies when the schools reopen?" Madi asks, looking around.

"Yeah, I plan on basically doubling my supplies for the next fifteen years and that's already doubled when I got the news the Hokage had tapped me for meals. I'll have to leave the extra in scrolls until needed, we just don't have the room. Yes, we could add onto the buildings again but eventually the schools will be closing and what have you then? We won't have the need. Yes, the Hokage and I see the need for those protecting the village to have meals while they're working but not the frantic need to feed over 400 growing children one meal a day for over ten years."

The others listening nod in agreement. "Do you see scrolls being brought that day?"

"Yes, it all depends on how many people are eating at a certain site. Individual scrolls, not a chance. Too much work." The others nod. "Unless each person buys their own and brings them back when they're done."

"On the go, there's also they need for a second scroll to dump them in when they're done if it's individuals." Nods from everybody. Then they look at the boxes of dishes and utensils. "Yes, I need to start buying more and storing it upstairs for when the schools reopen."

Kiriko sighs as she settles into the steaming water of the bathing room.

"Is it just me or is this weather dragging on?" Madi asks.

"No, everybody is complaining about aches and pains, the hot springs are full of people either soaking out aches or trying to get warm. The only warm place in the village is probably the shop with both kitchens going." Kiriko opens an eye to look at her mother when she walks into the room, sighing as she settles in the water with Kiriko. "It's something you tend to ignore as a shinobi but unless you're actively working now you feel the cold."

"Reminds me once again why I never wanted to become a ninja." Like Kiriko, Madi takes place in the every other weekend exercises and could easily have attended the academy but had other plans for her life. This time next year they'd be taking her and a couple other youngsters in the clan to the capital for higher education. They'd be taken care of by the Daimyo's wife and entering the university under her 'request' so any of the stupider students in the school would be told to bother them for being from a small village and not the big city and be prepared to face the consequences.

Kiriko herself brings back books from the university in areas that interest her, she could easily have taken several degrees from the university in any number of areas. Indeed, some of her trips she tests out of areas that she's been working on at the farm and been presented with degrees as a 'working student' since she's needed at the village. Ohhh, the administrators hadn't liked it but they'd seen her at work in the village on some of the trips with the Daimyo and agreed that she could work at her own pace in any program that caught her interest.

Sakura looks out the window of her apartment at the rain that had finally started arriving, maybe now the damn cold snap would ease up a little. Her leg aches in this rain, now she knows why some of the older jonin come monthly to have prescriptions filled for the pain. She's trying not to go that way, but times like this she needs the extra help. And she will only use them when she's not at work, too easy for an accident to happen in a kitchen where knives are used all the time. Pulling the curtains and lighting the stove for heat, she sits down and waits for the pill she'd just swallowed to take affect. What is her plans for the future? Kiriko has told her that she has a job at the scroll shop for as long as she wants, the need for the meals appears to be a lifetime affair. Looking at her leg as the warmth and pain pill start to take effect she suddenly chuckles, at least with her leg being so damaged, she never had to work in the sewers like the others.

Naruto is looking around his apartment, with the civilians knowing who he is now he has been able to fix it up and leave it fixed up. And buy new furniture. It's a cozy little nook for one person, or even two he thinks as Hinata's arms wrap around him and he wraps an arm around her.

"Thinking?"

"I want to start buying the supplies to build a house on our land next year. Like Kiriko, it would only take a few minutes to get from the farm to the village and then the shop."

"Plans for afterwards?"

"I like working with my hands, I've been offered a job making stuff by the clan." He sighs, looking out the window. "I keep thinking how things could be so different right now. We could be preparing for a war instead of being at peace, you could have been banished from your clan for the 'crime' of being interested in me. . ." he pauses as Hinata stiffens under his arm.

"I would have left the clan anyway." She says firmly. "I am not. . .the proper Hyuga the elders wanted. Now that they are gone it is not a problem, but. . .I would have left. I would have missed my father. . .and Hanabi. But I would have gone." She chuckles suddenly. "You could be still running around saying you want to be the Hokage one day."

Naruto shudders. "Oh gods, and as bad as things were when my parentage was revealed it could have been so much worse. I've seen the older records, there used to be things called jinchuriki, they were the human jailers of large monsters created when the ten tails was broken apart. Back in the early days, there was a village that had control of these monsters and handed them out to the others to use as weapons. They all vanished in the days of the second hokage, I remember Lady Tsunade says a clan member of hers used to be the jailer. They vanished suddenly one day, remember the sand ninja that had to be taken out because he couldn't . . .or wouldn't stop killing?" Hinata shudders and nods against him. "Rumor is it they were trying to recreate them and seal the lesser one into him as a weapon."

"Oh gods," she whimpers. "And Lady Tsunade says the one in her clan member was the most powerful. And they had to be sealed into babies." She shudders against him. "Yes, I can see the life I would have lived if I'd been the container to a beast like that. I was hated before for my father dying of his wounds to protect me, how would I have been treated having that as a burden?"

"I could have been living in the shadow of the Hyuga, too scared to live life on my own." She looks up at Naruto. "Do. . .do you ever think about Sasuke?"

Naruto sighs. "Yes, and I'm afraid he'd have snapped sooner or later. Everybody was fawning on him as the last Uchiha and he was licking it up. I talked to the people at T&I, he never should have been allowed to enroll at the academy. He was a loose cannon waiting to happen. Lady Tsunade was not happy when she found he hadn't got any counseling after the massacre."

"Of course not, the high and mighty Uchiha would never lower themselves to show human failing." Hinata snorts. "The Main Branch was the same way. And like the Uchiha, they lost all their power."

"Exactly, let alone his vendetta against his brother for killing everybody. He would have left the village as a missing nin to try to find his brother and kill him. In one way we're lucky, he snapped early and while Sakura had to pay the price for it with a bad leg the rest of her life, nobody had to die for his stupidity."

"Do you know why Itachi did it? Did he snap too?" Hinata asks as they settle on the couch with mugs of hot chocolate as the news plays on the television across the room.

"I asked Jiji once, he said there's been rumors of a coup attempt by the Uchiha. He wasn't in charge at the time, that was the fourth and he doesn't have all the details. Itachi was ordered to take out the clan but spared his brother for some reason or another. Now looking at Sakura hissing in pain in the kitchen as she moves wrong I wish he had." he says softly.

At the Inuzuka compound Hana touches her brother's shoulder. "Big think?"

"Or thinking period. I know the others think I'm just a dumb mutt." He sighs. "I'm just going over the last few years and trying to figure out what caused everything to change. Was it just Sasuke going nuts?"

"Sasuke started it. Having so many babies born at once just helped it along." His mother says. "Little bastard should have been trained better as a pup but his whole family was as stuck up as he was. There's stories they were going to overthrow the fourth because they thought they were so special and Itachi had been ordered to do it. You're too young to remember it, but like the Hyuga the Uchiha loved flaunting the power around the village."

"What did they think would happen?"

"They'd install one of their own as Hokage and the village wouldn't dare do anything about it." Hana snorts. "I know you've been told this before, go to the Tower library and start looking up the history that you weren't taught at school." His mother nods when he looks at her. "It won't kill you to read and know your history Pup, being stupid on the battlefield would have."

"And what do you plan on doing for a future career?"

"I've been thinking about helping to train the dogs in the village for protection and guard duty. There used to be a village police force. . . "

"Mostly Uchiha but with so many clan raised children and all the genin the Hokage plans to reintroduce it since the ANBU can't be expected to handle everything."

"I think I'd like to work with them." He says firmly.

"Good, I'm glad you kids are all making plans for the future. What about the others?" Hana asks.

"Naruto and Sakura work for Kiriko making meals, they're looking at a good fifteen years for that and Naruto is working with his hands making furniture on the side with more of the Izuno. The others are working with their clans just like me but they'll be heading their clans one day, I won't." He stops to think a moment. “Well, maybe not Hinata. She's still with Naruto."

The sound of screaming and cursing from Kiriko's home has the other clan members waiting for her the next morning in the main building, giving her varying 'this had better be good looks'.

"And you complain about the noise your mother and I make." Her father says, teasing her.

"Dad, hush. I just woke myself up screaming out of a nightmare. The cats are all giving me disgusted looks and I can sssssooooo see it happening." She says, shuddering as she fixes herself a meal and sits down to eat.

"Give." her father says after she's eaten.

"I was at the shop and the Hokage summoned me to the Tower. I didn't think anything of it, I was making a trip out for supplies in a few weeks, we were still waiting on supplies to finish putting up the building on the plateau for the airships." The others nod.

"I walked into the tower and the Hokage dropped the hat on me. And I quote, tag you're it. You own the village already, you might as well have the 'fun' of the paperwork."

The others stare at her and start howling with laughter. "Yeah. And when I stopped cussing in the dream, he told me the academy was full of paperwork I needed to sort through. Oh, and I couldn't use Chakra to destroy it. He'd tried, the damn thing multiplied."

More laughter as the clan elders nod. Especially those who handle the paperwork for the clan.

"How would you have handled it?" Madi asks, smirking.

"Two words. Flame thrower." Everybody who's had the 'pleasure' of doing paperwork for either the clan or as an active ninja nod firmly.

OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE

Kiriko reaches over and wraps her arm around Sakura's neck, pulling her down for a kiss where they. . .who the fuck wrote this shit? Dawn Summers howls as she goes back to her laptop after breaking for lunch.

Snickering has her looking behind her at the doorway to find Xander. Payback for writing me and Anya as Kiriko's parents.

Xander she wails.

Oh relax, I saved your fic and that's a duplicate. You really should have a password on that Dawnie

If I do, Buffy breaks them. Literally. Oh she apologizes and says she won't do it again. But she does.