“He believed in you. So do I. I hope we will meet again, Naruto Hatake.” The purple haired woman stated, as her paper slowly wrapped around the corpse of her deceased friend. 
“We will Konan. Are you sure that you don't want to come with me? I am certain that the Hokage would allow you a fair trial and sentence, maybe she would even let you join Konoha, once you proved your loyalty.” The blonde boy suggested, as they stepped outside of the hollow tree, the wrapped corpse of Nagato hovering behind them. 
“I am sure. Your village will most likely not like me, after what happened.” Konan said with a small smile on her lips. 
“I will get by. Don't worry about me.” She continued as when she saw Naruto about to argue.
“Alright. Stay safe.” Naruto said with a smile and a wave.
“You too. I want to see that peaceful world you envision. I know that Nagato would have loved it.” She stated as she watched Naruto smile before he turned around jumping away towards his village.

Sasuke’s eyes widened as he watched the green chakra signatures. Following the one that caught his interest he triple checked to make sure and was certain that it contained the chakra of his late wife. Immediately following the green mass he jumped over the stunned shinobi, having to use all of his strength to keep up with the jutsu. He realised where it was leading him and began to get worried, as he didn't know what that jutsu would do to Haku’s corpse. He was conflicted, since he could see that the chakra was calm and exactly like Haku’s, which showed him that it had most likely not been tampered with, but his logic told him that this was most likely a jutsu from the Akatsuki and that this could not be in good intent. Coming to a conclusion he sprinted forward positioning himself between Haku’s dead body and the green chakra, trying to protect his wife from whatever the jutsu would do to her. His eyes widened as the mass simply passed through him. He was stunned for a second until he heard sounds of movement behind him. Spinning around his mind was racing, as he tried to find anything wrong with the body and the chakra in front of him. 
“Sasuke.” He heard the soft voice of Haku, as if she had just woken up from a deep sleep.
“Is it really you?” He asked, not wanting to believe it, as the brown eyes opened again. 
“I think so.” The girl answered as she tried to sit up. Sasuke cried out in happiness and quickly engulfed his wife in a hug, careful not to hurt her.
“How?” Was the only thing that Sasuke could ask as he cried into the shoulder of the teen.
“Does it matter?” Haku replied, a small smile on her face as she pulled back a bit to place a soft kiss on Sasuke’s lips.

When Naruto arrived at the village he was greeted by a scene that would have been a contender for the weirdest scene in his memory; the destroyed gate being guarded by Konohamaru and Hanabi, while everywhere in the crater was happy chatter and it seemed as if a festival was celebrated, even though the village still laid in ruins. Smiling, he was glad to see that Nagato’s jutsu had apparently worked as he had to force himself to slow down to not crash through the gate in search of Temari.
“Naruto!” Hanabi cried out as he came into view, her Byakugan active. Smiling at his two remaining students the boy accepted the hugs from the two, as he looked around the mass of people in between the tents, searching for his favourite hair colour amongst them.
“Sorry guys, I have someone to see.” Naruto excused himself as he found the blonde pigtails of his fiance. Dashing through the paths, narrowly avoiding any person in his way, Naruto’s smile grew wider as he got closer to the person he had thought lost. 
Temari turned as Kakashi smiled and Kurenai’s eyes widened slightly, both looking behind her at Naruto speeding through the people. She barely had enough time to open her arms as she was swept off of her feet. Spinning the girl around Naruto smiled as he slowed down bringing Temari down and connecting their lips, tears spilling out of both their eyes. 
“Hey.” Temari whispered, as they disconnected.
“I thought I lost you.” Naruto murmured, pulling her as close as possible, and burying his face in her shoulder. Kakashi and Kurenai took that as their clue, as they joined the pair in a family group hug. The blonde felt her fiance tense briefly, still not really sure how he should feel about the two who surrounded them but he relaxed quickly afterwards. 
“I love you.” Temari whispered into Naruto’s ear, pulling him closer to herself.
Feeling the two jonin release their grip, Naruto brought his head up to look into the teal eyes of his lover. 
“I love you too.” He whispered against her lips, as they kissed again. 

“I see, you are back.” Naruto heard Tsunade’s voice as he broke the kiss. Smiling he turned around, going in for the hug, the blonde woman offered. 
“I would seem so.” He stated, a wide smile on his face.
“And here I thought I would not see you again.” Another voice was heard, as white hair appeared behind Tsunade. Smiling Naruto watched Jiraiya walk up to the small group, taking the hand Tsunade offered, a proud smile on his face as he looked his student up and down. 
“I guess I don't need to ask if you have found Pain?” Tsunade asked as she gestured around to all the families huddled together and celebrating the miraculous revival of their loved ones.
“No, you don't.” Naruto answered, as he remembered the sight of his relative strapped into all those machines. Temari felt him tensing slightly and leaned her head on his shoulder, putting her arm around his waist. Smiling at this reassuring gesture, Naruto placed his hand on top of hers.
“Do we have a place to sleep?” Naruto asked Tsunade, who immediately nodded, pointing to a small tent next to hers, that she had reserved for Naruto. There was only one small bed in there, since no one had expected the dead to rise again, but Tsunade was sure that would not pose a problem for the pair.
Nodding their thanks, Naruto and Temari made their way inside. Climbing in the bed Naruto finally allowed himself to rest, as all the pain and fatigue rushed over him. Temari saw the tears in his eyes and pulled his head to her chest, stroking the blonde spikes, as the boy cried into her shirt. 
“It’s ok, I am right here.” She whispered, pressing her lips on his scalp.

After Naruto had calmed down, the pair stayed in that same position for a while longer. 
“Do you want to talk about it?” Temari asked carefully, keeping the question wague to give the boy space to avoid the topic she really wanted to talk about.
“Not here.” Was his response as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. Taking the hand he held out to her, Temari let him pull her up into a hug.
She felt him performing a shushin and as she looked up they were standing on top of the Hokage monument, overlooking the whole of Konohagakure.
Naruto sat down, patting the spot next to him. Temari sat down, putting her arm around his waist, leaning her head on his shoulder, waiting for him to start. 
“I thought I lost you. The pain was just unbearable. I almost gave in to the hate.” Naruto began. 
“Feeling you go limp in my arms, with your blood all over me.. It was suffocating. I didn't know what to do. I was a failure. I failed to protect you. I had betrayed my most important promise.” Temari heard the tears even though she had her eyes closed. Naruto’s whole body shook slightly as he tried to continue speaking. 
“I was so angry. Angry at Tsunade for not being there, angry at Jiraiya for not training us better, angry at Nagato for throwing that rod, but most importantly I was angry at myself for not being able to save you. I was so angry I was prepared to die if it meant avenging your death.” Naruto continued, his voice barely a whisper. 
“I don't know if I could go through that again.” he admitted, ending his little monologue.
Sitting up, Temari placed her hands on either side of her boyfriend's face, making him face her.
“You won't have to. We will train harder and better, so we can protect each other better.” Temari said, determination evident in her voice, as she wiped away his tears with her thumbs. 
“I love you more than I could ever express. And don't you dare think you broke any promise you made. I know that you will always do everything you can to keep me safe.” She whispered, leaning in to place a chaste kiss on the boy’s lips. Naruto didn't say anything as he pulled in for another kiss, knowing that his words could not do justice to the feelings he was feeling towards the girl.

“There is something else isn’t there?” Temari asked, seeing the distant look in the blue eyes looking at her. Sighing, Naruto shifted his position, so that his head laid on Temari’s lap. 
“I lost a relative today.” He stated, earning a confused look from the blond girl. 
“I know, he did a lot of fucked up shit, but in the end Nagato still was an Uzumaki and he died.” Naruto explained a bit more, as Temari realized that he meant Pain when he said Nagato. 
“I am guessing he is the reason why I am alive again?” She asked, as both of them looked over the crater, small fires lighting the whole place with soft red light. 
“And also the reason why you died. That is why I am so conflicted about him. On one hand, he killed you and is responsible for so much pain and suffering by the people I care about. But on the other hand he also managed to somewhat redeem himself by resurrecting everyone and he had the same dream as me; to see a peaceful world where no one has to die because of some fight.” Naruto explained, his voice cracking in the middle. 
“What happened between you two?” Temari asked, slowly letting her fingers flow through the boy’s blonde hair. 
“I found his base where he was controlling the orange haired guys from. When I entered I was certain that I would have to fight him, but then I saw him. He was strapped to a whole bunch of machines and honestly looked like hell. I saw his telltale red hair and knew that he was an Uzumaki before he had told me his name. We started talking and while I calmed down a bit he was more and more getting worked up because I managed to open his eyes to the reality that peace through force would not work. In the end we arrived at a common ground and he said he knew a way for him to make up for all of his bad deeds in the past. He didn't tell me that it would kill him. When he started the jutsu Konan, the purple haired woman, rushed into the tree. Seeing what the man was doing, she started to cry as she knew what it would mean. They shared a few last words afterwards, where Nagato convinced her that they had been on the wrong path. He died with a smile on his face. It still hurt to see him go. He was ultimately motivated by the same reason I have. I promised Konan that I would try to bring his dream to reality before I made my way back. 
There is so much I want to feel about him, that I don't know what I am truly feeling. It scares me to be honest.” Naruto finished, looking up to see his girlfriend smiling sadly at him. 
“We will get through this. It is always hard losing a relative, but life goes on and it is better to remember the people we care about positively than to be sad that they are gone.” Temari stated, slowly combing the blonde’s hair back. 
“Can we stay like this for a while?” Naruto asked, his eyes closed, as his arms snuck around Temari’s waist.
“Of course.”