Still, despite the peace, some people couldn't enjoy it; those who couldn't get past their loss, they withered away further now that the fear and pressure of war were lifted; they remained feeling nothing but loss.
Koji Inuzuka, once a proud young Tokubetsu Jōnin, a rising star of his clan, now withered away, barely moving, stopping his training entirely, just letting himself go.
"Koji, Kuro, I brought some food." A female voice called out as she entered the dark, small house that was the home of the two she named.
"Woof," A weak, sad response from Kuro was all she got, which caused her heart to sink. With a deep sigh, she entered further inside, finding Koji sitting where she last saw him, just looking through a photo album.
"You should get out more, Koji, get some fresh air; it would be good for you." Mika Inuzuka said with a sad, pitying tone.
She stood, waiting, hoping for a response, but he gave her none; he just ignored her, his lifeless eyes staring at the pictures of happier days.
It hurt to see. Mika had known Koji since he was a kid; he had always been happy, full of life and energy, never sitting still, always outside, always doing something.
To see that happy, lively young man reduced to this shadow of himself was heartbreaking.
"Just… just try…" was all she could say as she replaced the half-eaten food next to him with some new food.
"Take care of him, Kuro, you are all he has left." She fed Kuro next, though even the Ninken seemed disheartened, lacking the energy to even steal Koji's leftovers.
The both of them had taken Yuki's death hard, which was expected, her death had hurt the entire clan, despite her being a Hyūga, despite her future fate to marry Hiashi Hyūga, she had still been accepted as a part of their clan as well.
A sign that love respected no clan lines, that nothing could stop such raw emotions. Yuki had embraced their clan in ways even many of them didn't do.
She had, in fact, been more Inuzuka than more than half their clan.
Even Mika had secretly admired her, someone who felt that strongly, who gave of herself freely like she did.
Kuro whimpered sadly, both over his own feelings of loss and because his remaining partner, Koji, was clearly not well. Kuro wished he could do more, but nothing seemed to bring Koji any joy anymore; he was just hiding.
Trying to escape from reality and into memories.
Mika sighed once more, before spending a few minutes cleaning up just the worst of it. She wished she could do more, but Koji wasn't the only one in the clan who had lost someone important to him; others, too, struggled with loss.
And someone had to take care of them, making sure they at least didn't hurt themselves or wither away completely without food or water, and that task had fallen to Mika.
She went from one depressing home to another, helping both people and ninken deal with their loss, or at least made sure they didn't die, sometimes… some wounds could only be healed by time.
A loss like a partner, not even Tsunade Senju herself could help with something like that… even she had fallen to the pain of loss, forced to leave the village, to get away from the memories.
Some escaped, others, like Koji, drowned themselves in them. "Take care of yourself, Koji, Kuro." She bid them farewell with one last sad sigh.
-----
Away from the Inuzuka clan's compound, across the village of Konohagakure, stood the compound of the proud Hyūga clan.
Many here, too, felt great sorrow over the losses suffered, yet life went on; not everyone could just give up, some had to carry on.
Hiashi Hyūga was one of those.
Tatsuo Hyūga, father of Hiashi and former clan leader, seemed like he had aged decades over the past few months.
The crushing burden he found himself under after the war ended had forced him to step down; he still worked hard assisting his son, but his age was showing.
Now, he stood before his son, watching from the doorway as he was hunched over his desk, working, but without joy. "Hiashi, you should take a break."
Hiashi paused just long enough to look up at his father. "I can't, there is too much to do… the budget cuts are brutal."
Tatsuo sighed. Indeed, those cuts were brutal. Not only did the village cut its budget, but it also didn't pay out any pensions, forcing the clan to do that on its own, which was only made all the more difficult given the aforementioned budget cuts.
Normally, the next of kin was given the village pension, a separate clan pension, and a flat amount, a generous amount. Even if no amount of money could replace those who died, the clan had long since learned that money could still help.
It gave people the freedom to rest, to distract themselves, to honor their loved ones.
Now… the clan couldn't afford that, couldn't even afford the double pensions. Not this many all at once.
Tatsuo stepped inside, resting a hand against the edge of the desk. "Numbers can wait. Hiashi, I know you are in pain… but you have gotten married… just how many nights have you two spent in the same bed since?"
The pen in Hiashi's hand broke as he clenched his fist too strongly. "One…"
Tatsuo let out a sigh filled with sadness… for his entire life, Hiashi had believed, they all had, that he would one day marry Yuki. Hiashi had grown up with her, grown to love her… only to lose her months before they should be wedded.
This forced the clan to act and arrange someone else. His wife was a lovely woman, of noble birth, trained from a young age to be the bride of someone from the main family, where she too belonged, but she wasn't Yuki.
She didn't have anywhere near the same talent, and most importantly, she didn't have the heart of Hiashi.
The wedding had been rushed, and the Branch family had only blamed them all the more for it, seeing it as an abandonment of Yuki.
Yet, Hiashi needed to be married, needed children of his own. And so, despite his wish, Tatsuo had pushed things as a final act as clan leader.
"My son… I know you are in pain… I know that it is cruel to do this… to everyone involved, but please, at least try to get along with Kiyomi, she is a lovely woman, and if you let her… she will make you happy." Tatsuo tried.
"Yuki made me happy!" Hiashi snapped, interrupting his father. "She made me happy, until this rotten village decided to kill her, all to allow them to push our Hyūga clan down, to crush our ambition, and what did they give us in return? Nothing!"
The room went silent, the words echoing like steel drawn in the dead of night. Tatsuo's shoulders slumped, but his eyes stayed sharp. "Hiashi…"
"They think we're weak," Hiashi said, his voice low but trembling with fury. His knuckles were white where his hand gripped the desk, splinters cracking beneath his fingers. "How many other of our deaths were caused by ROOT? For how long has the village plotted against us?"
His Byakugan flared for an instant, veins rising around his eyes, but there was no battle to be fought here. Only rage.
Tatsuo sucked in a deep breath and then slammed his palm into the desk, shattering the ancient oak into a shower of fragments. "You think I don't know!? That I don't suspect!? But what can I do!? What can we do!?" his own anger was no less than his son's; he was simply better at hiding it.
Tatsuo's hand trembled lightly before he sighed and hung his head. "The truth is… we can't do anything. We can't go against Root… not yet, the new Hokage… he is young, he just needs time to stabilize himself. Once that is done, he can help us do what we can't."
Hiashi stared at the splinters raining down from the desk, recalling the memories he had had made with Yuki on that desk. Finally, he sighed, maybe it was for the best. "I hope you are right."
"As do I, my son, as do I." Tatsuo said, sounding tired and drained. "Now, go home, spend some time with Kiyomi, you can't very well work without a desk, can you?" he tried to look at the positive side of things, though it was hard.
"Fine… It's not her fault, I know that… but… every time I see her, I can't help but think that it should have been Yuki." Hiashi stood. He felt guilty towards Kiyomi, but… the loss was still fresh.
-----
It wasn't just in Konoha that people had mixed feelings about the current situation; in all the villages, peace meant many different things. For some, it meant a chance to embrace their loved ones, keeping them close as they were thankful they could.
Others wept over the loss of their beloved ones.
And some just continued to work as usual.
In Kirigakure, the young Yagura Karatachi had just claimed the seat of Mizukage, and with the responsibility came the burden of dealing with the aftermath of the war.
In particular, making sure there was nothing that could threaten the hard-won peace, as Kirigakure turned towards regaining its strength. Building up a new generation of elites, and replacing those lost, which included almost the entire seven legendary swordsmen of the mist.
Yagura still couldn't fully understand how they could have lost, and to a Konoha Genin at that. But it was an undeniable fact that they had lost, and a thankful mercy that they still had the swords.
But rebuilding would take time, and his job was to ensure they had that, and that training of the young would produce those worthy of claiming the swords, to ensure whoever gained them wouldn't humiliate themselves.
Kirigakure couldn't afford to be humiliated like that again.
And he, as the new Mizukage, couldn't allow it to happen either.
As it was, his position wasn't all that stable, mostly due to his status as jinchūriki of Isobu. An asset they had almost lost due to a dangerous and stupid gamble.
"Lord Mizukage, another suspected Missing-nin of Kirigakure has been identified." An aide entered after politely knocking and handed him yet another document. Not like his desk wasn't already covered in those.
"What's this? There is barely any information at all." He couldn't help but ask as he read the report; it was nothing like the many other such reports he had dealt with. Those were filled with information about the traitors; this one had none of that.
"Well, we aren't sure about their identity… but they must be from Kirigakure, after all, they possess the Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai of the Kaguya clan, so it has to be someone from there." the aide tried to explain.
"I understand that part… but why haven't you asked them about it? Surely they would know if one of their own ran off. Not that I blame her, that clan is filled with crazy madmen." Yagura had little love for that particular clan, as it had far too little respect for the rules and laws of Kirigakure.
"I did, sir, but they claimed there wasn't anyone fitting the description, and well… apparently they were rather angry about the suspicion, the Genin sent to ask was beaten half to death." The man said nervously.
"Ahhh." Yagura sighed. "That is suspicious, if this report is right, this Kunoichi is likely a Tokubetsu Jōnin at least, not someone the clan wouldn't know about, but also not someone the village wouldn't know about… are we sure she possesses the Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai?"
"Positive Lord Mizukage, she has even earned a reputation for being brutal and cruel, and she goes by Kaguya-hime, so I can't see how she isn't connected to them." he reported.
"Hmmm. True, fine, I will mark this person as another missing-nin and half the information forwarded to the hunter squads." He said, putting his seal on the document and adding it to one of the many ever-growing piles on his desk.
(End of chapter)
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