Repatriation 52 - Epilogue

Epilogue

10 years later…

<Knock-knock>  

“Hold on, I’m coming!” came a voice from inside the house.  When the door opened, it revealed Hinata Hyuuga, now in her upper twenties, looking as cute and sweet as ever.  

“Sakura!” shouted Hinata as she finally got the door open.  She noted Sakura wasn’t alone.  “Hi Sasuke, where are the others?”

“They took off as soon as we got here,” he replied.

“We’re not the first, are we?” asked a glowing Sakura Uchiha.

“Gosh, no.  Far from it.  Neji and Tenten are here.  So are Kiba and Shino and their wives.  The sand contingent aren’t coming until just before dinner,” said Hinata.  “Come right in!  Everyone is out back.”  She stepped aside allowing her friends access to her house.

“Thanks,” said Sasuke flatly from behind his wife.  Although he had been back in the Leaf for more than a decade, he still wasn’t the most sociable of men.  Though he could suck it up and support Sakura when the occasion required.  

Hinata led her guests inside her large house situated on one edge of the Hyuuga compound where she, Naruto and their family have lived since they got married.  

“How is Kenji feeling today?” Hinata asked her friend.  “I heard he’s been sick recently.  

Sakura carried a dark-haired boy in her arms who sneezed almost on cue.  “He’s definitely getting better.  I was iffy if I should even come today because of his cold, but I checked him this morning and he is no longer contagious.”

“Well, you would know better than anyone,” noted Hinata.  She had led them to a small patio outside the back of the house.  Most of the guests who were already there were already in small groups socializing.  Sasuke peeled away from his wife and friend and found Kiba and Shino in a corner, talking.  “If you hadn’t shown up, I would have dragged you here, y’know.”

“Oh really?” said Sakura.  “And why is that?”  

“This party has already lost one of its honorees and I wasn’t about to let a second one go that easily,” said Hinata.

“Oh come on, Hinata.  This isn’t even my first!” insisted Sakura.  “I don’t belong with the others.”

Many in their circle of friends had gotten married and started families since the end of the Fourth Shinobi world war.  It just so happened that right now four of them were pregnant at the same time…rather, that had been the case up until yesterday.  Hinata decided to throw this get-together using the premise of a baby shower for all the pregnant women as the reason.  The only issue was….Ino and Chouji had just had their first daughter yesterday (she was two weeks early) so they were still in the hospital taking care of their newborn and were unable to come.  

“Have you visited Ino?” asked Sakura, taking a seat under an umbrella.  

“No, not yet,” answered Sakura.  “I wanted to give them some time alone as a family.”

Hinata laughed.  “Well, if she is anything like I was when I had Kiro and Aiko, she would probably welcome any support she can get.  Naruto and I were the first of any of us to have a baby and it wasn’t just one, it was two!”

Sakura smiled in response.  “The staff at the hospital will take good care of her I’m sure.”

Suddenly there was a crash and a bang from the forest in distance.  

“What on earth..?” stated Sakura to herself, but she was too late because Sasuke had already taken off to see what the ruckus was all about.  Sakura rolled her eyes when she saw Sasuke trodding towards the origin of the sound.  

“Normally they would both be going…where is Naruto anyway?” asked Sakura.

“He should be here soon.  He had a few more forms to fill out before he could leave Hokage tower,” explained Hinata.  

Naruto Uzumaki wasn’t Hokage yet, but he was a virtual lock when the current Hokage, Lady Tsunade, stepped down.  He had never had a lot of common sense, so Tsunade, knowing her probable succession plan, asked Naruto to be her aide until the day she vacated her office for one reason or another.  This served two purposes:  it provided Naruto with some much-needed training for his eventual promotion and also it filled the vacancy that had been left when Shizune had left Konoha.

“I assume that’s where Kiro and Aiko are as well?” asked Sakura.

“Hm-mm,” answered Hinata.

Kiro Uzumaki and Aiko Uzumaki were the first born children to Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga.  Both had shown great promise as shinobi despite their young age and had been asked by Tsunade to serve as messengers and pages during some of their off time not spent at the academy.  They were on track to graduate in two more years.

Kiro had blonde hair like his father and was regal and formal in nature.  He was extroverted like Naruto, yet had more common sense and brainpower than his father ever did.  To top it all off, he had inherited his mother’s Byakugan.  

Aiko, on the other hand, was much quieter than her brother.  She had her mother’s black hair and she wore it long and flowing.  She, too, was quite intelligent.  She had developed eyes that resembled the Byakugan though they had not started to function as of yet.  Even the most seasoned of medical shinobi could not tell for sure if they would ever activate or not.  For now, she merely had to wait and see.  

Sasuke soon appeared at the edge of the forest with two boys raised off the ground by the collars of their shirts – the one in his left hand was Naruto and Hinata’s third child, a 7 year-old named Hokori.  In his right hand was a dark-haired boy of approximately the same age, Kasai Uchiha, his and Sakura’s first born.  Behind the three of them walked a small girl with her head held high.

“I told you guys to behave yourselves.  This always happens when you can’t control your tempers!” the girl shouted presumably at the two boys.  

“Shut it, Emi!” shouted Kasai back at the girl.  Sasuke gave him a look that immediately conveyed that not another word should be spoken.  Kasai crossed his arms and sulked.

Kasai Uchiha and Hokori Uzumaki were both in their second year of the academy along with Emi Hyuuga, Neji and Tenten’s daughter.  The three of them very much reminded Sakura of her own team from back in her academy days.  The two boys had somehow inherited Sasuke and Naruto’s competitive nature and also considered themselves rivals.  Emi had a crush on Kasai and followed him around like a puppy dog.  Sakura knew Emi wanted to be a medical shinobi eventually – she had even talked to her about it - but the one thing making her story unlike Sakura’s is that Emi had awakened her Byakugan which had been inherited from her father.  The Hyuuga clan was very much against her becoming a medical shinobi thus “wasting” her precious kekkai genkai and its ability in battle.  Sakura was very proud of Emi and her ambitions, but was a bit envious because Emi, at her current age, was much stronger than Sakura had ever been.

“Sakura, how are you?” said a new face to the conversation who had just emerged behind the pink-haired kuniochi.  It was Karin… and she was huge!  

“Karin, I’m fine.  Please…sit.  Where’s Lee?” asked Sakura.

“Oh, he’s around here somewhere.  You know how he gets these ideas in his mind and suddenly he is off proving to himself he can do 1000 push-ups or something like that,” explained Karin.

Sakura laughed.  “Yeah, that’s our Lee.”

“How are you feeling?” asked Sakura of her fellow pregnant shinobi.

“Surprisingly fine.  This isn’t nearly as bad as I had envisioned it to be,” noted Karin.

“You got lucky.  And it varies from pregnancy to pregnancy, too.  When I had Kasai, I was sick as a dog.  I was also pretty sick with Kenji.  But with Senshi, Mikoto and this new baby, I’ve felt great,” explained Sakura.

Sakura was now four months along into her fifth pregnancy.  An outsider may have suspected that Sasuke was using her as an incubator to repopulate his clan (and being pregnant for the 5th time in nine years certainly lends credibility to that observation).  However, once Kasai was born, Sakura found that she truly shined as a mother.  As much as she loved being a medical shinobi, being a mother gave her even more satisfaction.  Sasuke was more than happen to give Sakura as many children as she desired for both selfish and unselfish reasons alike.  The bottom line for both of them was that they both wanted a lot of children and they were both happy and satisfied with their large and still-growing family.  

The socializing continued and new friends arrived at the get-together as the afternoon wore on.  The Koshosuru twins showed up together – Kanja and Sumato had truly grown to be fine shinobi who had already proved their worth many times over to the village.  Kanja recently married Sai having initially been introduced through Sakura herself.  A few years ago, a crying Kanja had shown up on Sakura’s doorstep.  She had been upset because Sumato had been pulling away from her as of late.  He was naturally an extrovert and as they grew older, his relationships outside of his sister and his clan began to become more and more important to him.  Kanja grew a bit lonely and was having a difficult time adjusting to the change in their relationship.  Sakura, seeing Kanja’s struggle, invited her to visit anytime she wanted – it just so happened that one of the times Kanja had visited, Sai was also there as well.  They hit it off almost immediately and with some mild coaxing by Sakura, the two started dating.  

After delivering a new tray of snacks to the food table, Hinata made her way back to where Sakura and Karin were still sitting.  Tenten walked over with her “shadow” and joined the friends as well.  

“Good afternoon Hana,” said Hinata leaning over so she would be eye-to-eye with the young girl who was following Tenten.

“So she still follows you around?” asked Sakura.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen a child more attached to a parent in my life.  She practically panics when I’m out of her sight,” said Tenten.  

“Missions must be fun then,” noted Karin sarcastically.

“It isn’t fun for everyone I leave behind,” said Tenten.  “They have to deal with the aftermath of me having left her.”

“I’m sure she’ll become a bit more independent soon,” noted Sakura.  “For some, it comes later than others.”

“I know it will,” said Tenten.  “Maybe I just shouldn’t have taken those couple of years off to take care of her.”  

“Now, now Tenten.  Don’t second guess yourself.  She was pretty sick when she was born,” said Sakura.  

Just then the back door to the house opened and Shizune emerged.  Based on the amount of noise from the inside of the house, the sand contingent had arrived.  

Behind Shizune was Naruto.  “I finally made it!” he shouted to Hinata once he got outside.  

“I see you brought others with you,” answered Hinata.

“Oh them?  They were walking to the house at the same time I was,” said Naruto.  

“Did you bring Aiko and Kiro back as well?” asked Hinata.

“Yeah, they’re in there, too,” said Naruto.  He inhaled the smell of the food.  “I’m starving!” he said aloud as he made a beeline towards the food table.  

Sakura got up and approached her good friend.  She hugged Shizune once she had cleared the door, which wasn’t the easiest thing considering the bundle she held in her arms.  

“So this is him?” asked Sakura, holding her hands out.

“This is him,” Shizune answered.  

He looks just like Kankuro, Sakura thought to herself.  How ironic since I’ve seen him without kabuki make-up maybe three times in my life.  

Two small children broke free from the traffic jam at the home’s back door and ran towards the other various kids playing in the yard.  

“Karura!  Yashamaru!  Be careful!” shouted their mother, Matsuri.

“We will, Mom!” they shouted back at her.

Matsuri grabbed her husband’s hand and led him to where the other ladies were sitting.  

“Uh, I think I’ll go over there for a while,” Gaara said to Matsuri, pointing to where the other men were congregating.  He wasn’t about to be the only guy with this gaggle of women.

“Where’s the other guest of honor?” Sakura asked Matsuri.

“She needed to use the bathroom.  I’m sure she’ll be out any…ah, there she is,” said Matsuri.

Temari emerged from the house followed closely by her husband, Shikamaru.  Sakura looked at her belly and tried to decide if Karin or Temari was actually closer to giving birth…they were both so big.  

“Temari, you might just have a Leaf baby if you’re not careful,” said Sakura.  “I’m surprised you made the trip from Sand.”

“I may be large, but the doctors told me before I left that I was nowhere near ready for this little one to arrive,” answered Temari who scooted to the closest nearby chair where she was helped down by Shikamaru.  “But we do have an announcement for everyone.”

“What?” asked Hinata.

“Hold on.  Let’s have everyone gather around for this one,” said Shikamaru loudly.  He looked over at the men and waved them over.  Before long, there was a huge group gathered around where Sakura and Hinata still sat.  

“Temari and I are moving to the Leaf,” said Shikamaru.  

“You’re coming back?” asked Naruto.  “That’s fantastic!”  As always, Naruto didn’t wait for his mouth to be clear of food before talking.

All those years ago, it was a tough decision for both of the Leaf shinobi who had fallen in love with two of the Sand siblings.  It was a bit easier for Shizine to leave the Leaf to go with Kankuro, Shikamaru had a much more difficult time accepting the fact that he couldn’t keep both Temari on one hand and his family, teammates and serving his own village on the other.  He was always expected to be a top advisor to the Hokage’s office, even at his young age.

After months of putting off a final decision, Shikamaru finally decided that if things didn’t work out with Temari or in the Sand, he could always return to the Leaf at some point in the future.  While in the Sand, he had become a top advisor to Gaara and served their village alongside his intended wife, Temari.  However, when it finally came down to actually having children, Shikamaru refused until he was absolutely sure staying in Sand was the right thing to do.  Unfortunately for Temari, that degree of absoluteness never came.  Finally, after a heart-to-heart with both of her brothers, Temari offered to move to the Leaf with Shikamaru before the birth of their first child.  He was elated and a pregnancy soon followed.  

The crowd gradually dissipated from around the kunoichi and spread out over the lawn once again.  Sakura decided to excuse herself from the conversation between Temari, Karin, Hinata and Tenten and headed for the table topped with food. It was just about time to feed Kenji and she wanted to get something to eat before having to prepare Kenji’s food.  Sasuke just happened to be standing there munching on a snack already.  

Both of them stood next to each other and surveyed the scene in front of them.  Their childhood friends and comrades had all grown up, but they had all somehow managed to stay really close nonetheless.  Here they all were with families of their own.  The latest generation of shinobi had already entered the academy and more were still to come with Ino and Chouji’s newborn and three additional pregnant kunoichi here all at once.

Sasuke sighed.  Sakura noticed.

“Is everything alright?” she asked him, looking at him.

Sasuke looked back.  He grabbed her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze.  “Yes.  Yes it is,” he replied letting a smile come across his face.