(Author: Heyo! And this is the last chapter of this filler arc! Then it's on t the last and final filler arc for Naruto! After that, it's on to Shippuden! I hope you enjoy this one! This one starts off where the last one left off! I also threw in Menma's ocarina song if you wanna listen to it. Happy reading!)
"That mark. He's in league with the people who attacked this village." Nan says angrily. He so angry, he's shaking from it. I gasp in shock, looking at Menma. No... No way! Menma would never... He would never attack a village! He was trying so hard to protect it! Menma isn't a bad person! "Huh? That's a lie!" Naruto and I back at Nan. Menma is not a bandit! "It's the truth." Nan says, looking at both Naruto and myself with an angry expression.
"Yeah, and just how the hell do you know? Huh!?" I ask him, on the verge of letting my tears stream down my cheeks. "I saw that mark the night they came. That's the exact same mark the bandits had." Nan answers, though he does not look at me. He stares at the mark on Menma's arm. I... I can't believe this! Menma... He would never attack a village. Ever. "No way." Naruto murmurs in disbelief. "I can't believe you." I mutter, staring at Menma.
"But how come the report by the medical team didn't say anything about the markings?" Tenten asks. I look up, looking over at Neji who is sitting right beside me. "Byakugan!" Neji says, activating his Byakugan and looking at the mark on Menma's arm. "It seems this type of marking only appears on the body when it sweats." Neji tells us, answering Tenten's question before deactivating his Byakugan. I look back down at Menma, a saddened look on my face.
"I think you'd better go." Nan suddenly says, causing me to look at him. "Why would we leave?" Naruto gasps, asking him as he stares at him too. "I don't care what the reason is, there's no way I'm leaving Menma." I say, giving Nan an angry type of look. "Because I'm going to take care of him." Nan says angrily, staring at Menma with rage filled eyes. He did not just say that with me here! "You're going to what?" Naruto asks. "No way! We won't let you do that!" Naruto and I yell in unison. "I'm not gonna let you hurt Menma, ya know!" I yell, glaring at Nan with the tears still in my eyes.
"Why would you protect this man? Is the Leaf Village his ally?" Nan asks, looking at Naruto and I with an angry look. "We don't have to be his ally to protect a good person." I tell him, not once breaking my eye contact with him. "We have nothing to do with him." Naruto says, staring at Nan before looking down at Menma. "But the fact is,--" Naruto starts off, me joining in on his sentence. "--this guy doesn't remember anything that happened in his past. His memory is totally blank." Naruto and I say in unison, me now staring at Menma with a saddened look.
"He doesn't remember?" Nan asks, though he does sound less angry now. "He has amnesia. We traveled here to piece together his past." Neji explains our mission to Nan. "Well, then, now you know everything. He's a filthy bandit. And weather or not he may have amnesia, it makes no difference to me." Nan says, his angry tone coming back to his voice. "Now you stop right there, ya know!" I yell loudly at Nan, glaring up at him with a severely angry look. "It's not right to punish someone if they don't know what they did, ya know!" I growl angrily, glaring at Nan.
"I don't care." Nan says angrily, glaring at me. "Why you--" I go to stand up, about to punch Nan right in the face. However, Neji puts a hand on my shoulder. He does look at me, he stares at Nan. "Hold on a minute." Neji says sternly. "If you were to punish someone who can't even remember his crime, it wouldn't be right. Therefore, I agree with Naira on this one." Neji finishes, staring at Nan with a stern look. Neji... Thank you, ya know. "Shut up!" Nan yells at Neji.
I am now basically fuming with anger, glaring at Nan very harshly. Not only does he refuse to treat Menma, he told Neji to shut up. I don't take very kindly to people yelling at my friends for no reason. "Don't tell him to shut up, ya know! You can yell at me all you want, but you do not, I repeat, you do not, yell at Neji or any of my other friends like that! Do you hear me?" I yell at Nan, the anger I'm feeling radiating off of me. "Naira." Neji says calmly, staring me in there eyes.
I look down, taking some calming breaths. "If it's revenge you want, go ahead and take it, as long as you wait until after my friends and I get this man's memory back." Neji says calmly, directing it toward Nan. What!? Neji! I look up, staring at Neji with wide eyes though he is looking directly at Nan. "Neji!" I yell out. "I promise I won't stop you." Neji ignores me, staring directly at Nan who remains silent. "The hell you won't! I'll stop him, ya know!" I yell, my anger and rage coming back as I glare at Neji's back. "Speak for yourself. I won't ever let you kill him, not even then." Naruto yells out before his mouth is covered by Tenten.
"Yeah, me either, ya know!" I yell out, until Neji too clamps a hand over my mouth. What the heck!? Why is he doing this!? "Listen, Neji's right. If we restore his memory and get him to talk, we can find out who those attackers really were. And if we use this guy as a bargaining chip, we might be able to save your village." Tenten says, holding back the struggling Naruto. What the heck, Tenten!? Menma is not a bargaining chip that can be used! He's a person, ya know! I try to yell at Tenten, though everything I try to say comes out muffled since Neji's hand is over my mouth.
"It's true. There's no escaping the situation. This man must be kept alive." Neji says, looking up at Nan. I struggle, trying to pull out of Neji's tight grasp. "Naira, remain quiet. I said I wouldn't stop him, but I won't stop you either. If you want Menma to live, we need him to operate on him." Neji whispers into my ear quietly. He's right. And as long as he doesn't stop me from protecting Menma, I'll keep quiet I guess. I nod my head slowly, stopping any struggling I was putting up before.
Neji removes his hand from my mouth, looking over at Nan. I stare at Nan, staying silent just as Neji asked. "I'll stitch up his wounds. Hold him steady." Nan says, sighing in defeat. I put Menma's ocarina in my jacket pock, since I had grabbed my jacket and threw it on in our rush back to the village. I also had taken my hair down and swept it over to the left side. I walk over, holding down Menma's left arm while Neji holds down his right arm. Naruto was holding down Menma's right leg, and Tenten his left. That is, until Naruto looks behind him at the door.
I tilt my head, watching him stand up and walk over to the door. He opens it enough for me to see a girl run away in the distance. "Who's that?" Naruto murmurs quietly. He looks down, causing me to look at his feet and see what looks at be water and alcohol. That must've been Ran. She probably heard the whole thing. Naruto picks up the things, walking back inside and bringing them to Nan. I look back at Menma, seeing that in such the short time Menma's shirt had been removed and a small towel was placed in his mouth.
I'm not sure exactly what Nan is doing since I'm watching Menma's face. But I do know it's painful enough for Menma to put up a struggle. Menma screams in pain, though it's muffled due to the towel in his mouth. I hold his arm down tightly, making sure he does not struggle. "It's all right, Menma. We'll get you through this, ya know." I whisper quietly by Menma's ear. I look at Nan, seeing him pour the alcohol in his mouth before spitting it out onto Menma's wound. I look back at Menma, seeing the pure pain on his face before his body relaxes and his eyes close. I guess he's unconscious now. Poor Menma.
A little while later, the sun having set, the operation is finished. Nan had immediately left afterwards, not uttering a single word. All four of us sit in silence, watching the unconscious Menma. I sit between Neji and Naruto, my head leaning on Neji's shoulder. No, it's not what I looks like. I'm sitting there with my knees against my chest, my head on Neji's shoulder and my hand in my lap. I'm just a bit tired, so Neji had agreed to let me rest my head on his shoulder. Neji is sitting there with one leg down on the ground, as if he was sitting crisscrossed, and the other foot on the ground with his knee by his chest. He has an arm resting on his knee, while his other arm is resting in his lap.
Poor Menma... Good new is he's gonna be all right though. But I just can't get over how Nan kept saying he's one of those bandits. "I don't get it. He seemed like such a kindhearted person. But he's really a lowlife bandit?" Naruto mutters quietly. "Yeah... I just can't believe it. He's such a nice guy. It's rare to find those these days, ya know." I say quietly, staring at Menma from my current position. "Maybe the amnesia just made him act like he was good." Tenten suggests quietly.
"No way. No matter how severe the case of amnesia, nobody could act as nice as he was. Tenten, you haven't seen my bedroom before. But let's just say, it's not that easy of a mess to clean up. Even Neji has given up on trying to help me clean my room before. Yet, Menma cleaned it." I say quietly, my gaze not once moving from Menma. "That's true." Neji agrees with me quietly, referring to him giving up on helping me clean my room.
"It's just got to be some kind of a coincidence that he has the same markings as those guys did. If he was evil deep down inside, he couldn't act that nice, even if he did lose his memory. Just as sis had said." Naruto says quietly as well, him staring at Menma too. "Well, either way, we'll know everything once he starts remembering." Neji says quietly, going to stand up. "Hey, wait. Don't go yet." I say quietly, wrapping my arms around his to stop him from moving. I'm tired, and this is actually comfortable.
Neji sighs, stopping his moving. "Just a few more minutes then. I have something that I want to do." Neji says quietly to me. "Okay." I say back. "I was-- I was one of the bandits, wasn't I?" Menma suddenly asks, causing me to gasp. Dang it! He's awake, ya know. "You're awake?" Naruto and I ask him in unison. "You must have heard us talking." Naruto says, crawling over to be by Menma. Menma nods his head slowly. "I'm sorry." I apologize to him, a somewhat soft smile on my face.
"Listen, don't worry about any of that. We still don't know what actually happened. It's just all theories at this point, okay?" Naruto says with a reassuring smile. "Mhm. You just need to focus on letting your injury heal, ya know. Okay?" I say with the same reassuring smile as Naruto. Menma suddenly starts to grunt in pain, his wound probably troubling him. "You need to rest and let that wound heal up, just as Naira said." Neji tell Menma before looking at me.
"Can you please let go now? I have something I must do." Neji asks me politely. I lift my head up, resting my chin on his shoulder as I stare at him. I sigh lightly, letting him go and scooting away from him a bit. "Fine." I give in reluctantly. I was so comfortable. And tired. Neji stands up, walking toward the door. "Where are you going?" I ask quickly. "To take a look around the area." Neji says to me. "Can I go?" I ask, staring at his back since it is still turned to me. "No. You need your rest as well." Neji says calmly, looking over his shoulder and actually giving me a soft smile before opening the door and walking out it, closing it behind him.
Neji... You can be a real jerk sometimes, but a lot of the time you're really sweet. I smile, my eyes focused on the door that Neji had just walked out of. I shake my head, snapping out of my daze when I hear Menma grunt and groan in pain. I take the flute out of my pocket, crawling over to him. "Here. I kept it safe for you, ya know." I smile at Menma softly, laying the flute down by his face. Menma looks at me. "Naira... Thank you." Menma thanks me quietly before making a face of pain. "You can thank me by getting some rest, ya know." I giggle a bit, smiling at him. "And I'm tired too." I add on, bursting out into quiet laughter to try and lighten up the mood. I hope Menma is okay, ya know.
A little while later, after I had fallen asleep laying on the ground by Menma and Naruto, I awaken. Ugh... I hate it when I first wake up, ya know. I open my eyes slowly, looking in front of me to see Menma is not where he was before. I sit up quickly, now instantly awake. I look at the door, seeing it's open now as well. "Damn it!" I yell, standing up and running toward the door. "Sis?" Naruto says, sitting up tired. "Big brother, Menma's gone!" I say to him. "He's what!? Aw, man!" Naruto yells, jumping up and the two of us running around the village.
Maybe he's back where we were working before. I run to the wall we were building, and sure enough Menma is there. Along with all the villagers. "There he is! Get him! It'll be vengeance for everyone we lost." A man yells out, all the villagers standing a few feet away from him with rocks or weapons in the hands. Oh, no they won't! Naruto and I jump in front of Menma, holding our arms out protectively. "Stop right there!" Naruto yells out. "Not another step!" I yell out sternly, looking at all the villagers. "We don't know for certain that Menma was one of the bandits who attacked you!" Naruto tells them.
"As of now, he's just a man with amnesia, ya know! Leave him alone!" I yell at them, the stern look still on my face. "You're just as much to blame if you stand with him." A male villager yells at us. "I'm standing here to protect him for vengeful people like you guys!" I yell at them, a somewhat angry look on my face now. "What's going on?" I hear Neji's voice say, causing me to turn around and spot him running toward us. "Neji." Naruto and I say, looking at him. "Naruto. Naira." Tenten says, running over to us as well. "Hey, Tenten." Naruto greets her. "Tenten?" I say, tilting my head.
Hahaha... I probably woke her up when I was yelling like that earlier. Neji runs over to Menma, looking at us all with a stern yet angry look. "Why did you let him out?" Neji asks in a scolding tone. "It's my fault. I must have fallen asleep." Tenten says, looking down at Menma who is laying on the ground. "I let my guard down because I thought he couldn't stand up." Naruto says nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "I was super tired, ya know. I feel asleep and woke up to find him gone." I shrug, a small frown on my face.
"Damn it." Neji says in a bit of an angered tone, though he's not really angry with us. I can tell he's just a bit annoyed that Menma got out. I turn back toward the villagers, Naruto doing the same. "Listen, everyone. The guy's got total amnesia. I'm telling you, even he doesn't know if he was one of the bad guys or not." Naruto explains to everyone, trying to reason with them. "Yeah. And besides, he's the one that put together this whole plan to try and save your village. Why would he do that if he was actually a bad guy? Oh wait, he wouldn't, ya know." I say, though the last part comes off as a bit sarcastic.
Suddenly, a rock is thrown at both Naruto and I. I put an arm up, blocking the rock from hitting my face. "Oh, hell no! You did not just throw a rock at me!" I yell out, getting a bit angry now. "We gave you fair warning. If you four protect him, you're going to suffer the same fate as him." The same male villager says angrily, causing all the other villagers to yell out in anger. The all throw rocks at us, yelling indistinctly. "Okay, I tried to just be nice, but I'm not going to stand here and get hit rocks, ya know!" I yell out, just as angry as all the villagers.
I take out my twin katanas, which does halt the villagers for a moment before they start throwing more rocks. I use my katanas, blocking the rocks from hitting us. Well, the majority of the rocks anyway. "Come on, get him! They're going to pay for that they did!" The villagers yell out, pelting us with rocks that I continue to block. "Oh, no." Neji says, blocking a rock I failed to block myself. "We need to get him out of here!" Tenten says quickly.
"I'm fine. Go!" Menma says, a saddened tone to his voice. "What the hell are you saying, Menma?" I yell back at him, blocking a many rocks as I can. "They have every right to be angry. I'm to blame. I deserve all of this." Menma says quietly. "You'll be killed." Neji says to Menma. My arms, they're getting tired. I'm failing to block a lot of the rocks. "If I must." Menma says quietly once more, as if death doesn't bother him. "Menma, come on! What are you saying?" Naruto says to Menma. "I'm not going to let you be killed, ya know!" I yell out. Suddenly, I sense a bunch of different chakra presences, and I hear the sound of arrows being shot.
I turn around quickly, using my twin katanas to block the majority of the arrows while Naruto uses a kunai to block the rest. The villagers halt their rock throwing, confused with the sudden arrow attack. "Behind us. That way." I say, pointing toward the forested area on the other side of the wall we built. "There's several different chakra presences, ya know." I say in a serious tone, having the facial expression to match."Byakugan!" Neji says, activating his Byakugan and looking in that direction. "It's them." Neji says, referring to it being the bandits.
"The drawbridge. Raise the drawbridge!" Menma says quickly, looking at all of us. "Right. We're on it." Naruto and I say in unison, running back and pulling the rope to raise the drawbridge. It's almost up, but one of the enemies manage to run inside before we close it completely. Though the villagers easily take him out by pelting him with rocks. I can't help but laugh a bit, watching the way the man falls to the ground. He wasn't even expect it! That's why this is so funny! I walk back over to Neji, wiping away my tears of laughter.
"This is no laughing matter, Naira." Neji scolds me. "I know, I know. But it was funny, ya know." I giggle a bit, shaking my head to try and stop my laughter. "Now's our chance. Everyone hide." Neji says as he turns to the villagers with a serious look on his face. I take a deep breath, returning to the serious demeanor I had before. "You go, too." Neji looks at Menma, telling him to hide as well. "Don't worry. The four of us can handle these guys." Naruto reassures Menma. "Yeah. We'll get em', ya know. Especially of that one was taken out by a rock." I snicker a bit, the memory coming back before I return to my serious look once more.
I don't know why I keep laughing at that. "Right." Menma nods his head, agreeing to go hide while we take care of them. I hold out my twin katanas, standing in a fighting position. Suddenly, the wall is broken in not just one place, but two. "I broke through two places." Naruto and I say, watching them come toward us until we don't see any of the enemies any more. Huh? What's going on here? "What? They were here a second ago." Tenten says in shock, looking around.
"It's like they just vanished." Naruto comments, looking around as well. "Where'd they go? Oh! Did they turn invisible!? That'd be so awesome, ya know!" I yell out, my eyes wide in amazement as I look around. "All of you, quiet." Neji tells us, in which we all stop talking. Even me. I stare at Neji, watching him activate his Byakugan and look around. He deactivates his Byakugan after a moment, looking at us now. "Be careful, you three. We've been put under some kind of sonic genjutsu." Neji tells us. Sonic? Huh?
Suddenly, the same man we've been chasing this whole time appears on top of a building. We all turn to him, holding our weapons up in defense. "You caught on too late." The man tells us, bringing a flute to his lips and playing it. However, as soon as he does that I realize I can't move my body "My body--" Naruto says, though he doesn't finish. "It's heavy." Tenten basically finishes the sentence for him. "What the-- I'm paralyzed." Neji says, grunting as he tries to move but can't. "I can't move, ya know." I whine childishly, trying to move my body in any way.
This sucks, ya know! Some more men appear on the roof beside the man, throwing kunai at all of us. Oh, no! This isn't good, ya know. I stare at the kunai, my eyes wide. However in the next moment, I hear the flute that Menma plays. The noise somehow allows me to gain control of my body again. I block the kunais heading toward me with my katanas. "Something released the paralysis." Tenten says, alerting us to this small fact we have all already figured out. "Guys, please. Stop using words I don't understand." I tell them, though my gaze is focused on the man instead of being directed at Neji and Tenten.
"That little backstabber!" The man yells, referring to Menma I suppose. Hey! You're the one who stabbed his back, ya know! "Here they come." Tenten says as the men jump off the building. "No prob! Leave him to me!" Naruto yells, referring to the same guy we've been after this whole time. "Uh, and me, ya know!" I yell out, an angry pout on my face as I follow after Naruto and put my katanas back in the holsters. We jump in the air, heading toward the man. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" We yell, making four shadow clones while the real us lands on the ground and sneaks around to the back of the building. "It's futile!" The man yells, using his weapon to take out all of our clones.
"Hm, what's the matter, kids? You finished already? That was easy. I don't even have a scratch on me." The man says proudly, letting his guard down. Ha! Rookie mistake, ya know! Naruto and I jump onto the roof, grabbing his flute. "Huh?" The man says, turning back to us. "We weren't trying to hurt you. We wanted this!" Naruto and I say in unison, him holding one end as I hold the other. We snap the flute in half. "You can't!" The man yells in shock.
I look over, having heard the flute again. I look at Tenten, hearing her yell. "That sound. It's helping! Let's do this!" Tenten says, holding up a weapon she summoned from one of her scrolls. I then look at Neji, seeing him do his rotation jutsu. "Rotation!" He yells, using his rotation which takes out a bunch of the people. They really are bad if they get taken out by Neji spinning. Kidding! I know how strong Neji's jutsu is. "Did you see that? You're next, buddy." Naruto tells the man, a smirk on his face. "Yeah! But you're not our buddy, ya know!" I clarify glaring at him.
The man then jumps away from us, trying to get away so he won't be killed. "You won't get away!" Naruto and I yell, chasing after him. Naruto and I chase him, though we end up losing him and finding Menma instead. "Menma!" Naruto and I yell, making it over to him to see him holding his chest. We both crouch down a bit, staring at him. "You all right?" Naruto asks him. "Are you okay?" I ask, a worried frown on my face. "Yeah." Menma tells us, giving me a reassuring smile.
I smile a bit, nodding my head. "Hey, our buddies and us took care of those bandits." Naruto and I say in unison, a smile on our faces. "They shouldn't be back here to bother these people." I smile softly at Menma, though Menma looks down with a troubled expression. "But what about their leader? What about Shiin?" Menma asks, looking up at us with a serious look. "I-- Yeah, sorry. Sis and I chased after him, but he got away." Naruto says, looking down a bit. How does he know what the leaders name is?
"He did? This is terrible. Now that Shiin knows the villagers haven't fled the town, he'll use his last resort. Way up at the upper end of the river, there's a dam built to store an emergency reservoir of water. Even during an extended drought, the village would have plenty of water resources to draw from. His plan is to blow the dam and sweep away the entire village with a giant flood." Menma explains, a serious expression kept on his face the whole time. "What?" "That's awful, ya know." Naruto and I say at the same time, staring at Menma.
How does he know all this though? That's what I'm wondering. Did he overhear this plan? Menma nods his head. "He doesn't care as long as the mine is intact." Menma says, his serious expression still not faltering. "Oh, man. To stop a flood that big, we'd have to move a bunch of mountains or something." Naruto says, placing a hand on his chin. "Mountains?" Menma asks. "Silly, big brother. Mountains can't move. Can they?" I ask, tilting my head. I don't think they can.
Menma gasps, staring at us. "That's it! We need to move the mountains." Menma says, looking at us with a look of realization. "Huh? Mountains can move! What till I tell Neji!" I say, a smile on my face. "Naruto, Naira, you've got to take me to the mine now." Menma says in a serious tone once more. "What?" Naruto and I ask, looking at him with a shocked yet confused look. What the heck is he talking about? "There should be a stash of paper bombs kept inside the mine." Menma says, still with the deathly serious look on his face.
"Paper bombs?" Naruto and I murmur, looking at each other before looking back at Menma. Why does he need those? "What are you planning on doing with those?" Naruto asks the question on both of our minds. "I'm going to blow up the entire mine. All that gravel and sand will fill up the valley. Maybe the flood waters can be stopped." Menma says. I look at Naruto. "You're gonna carry him. I'm not that strong, ya know." I say, a small yet proud smile on my face. "All right! Hop on, Menma!" Naruto says, standing up and bending over so Menma can hop on his back. "To the mine we go!" I yell, running toward the mine with Naruto and Menma right beside me.
We start to run up the small trail to leading up to the mine, when we hear some rumbling noise. "This is bad. I hope we aren't too late. We got to hurry, Menma, sis." Naruto says in a serious tone. "Yeah. We have to save that village, ya know." I say, a serious expression on my face as well. "Uh, Naruto, Naira, there's something that's been eating away at me, and I need to tell both of you." Menma says, causing me to look at him and see a somewhat saddened expression on his face.
"Come on, can't it wait till later?" Naruto says, looking over his shoulder at Menma. "We have to focus, Menma." I say, staring at him as we run. What's so important? "I-- I remember everything about my past." Menma blurts out, though his sad look doesn't fade away. My eyes go wide, a small smile on my lips. "That's great." Naruto and I say in unison, though Naruto says it more angry like while I say it in a happier tone. "But right now, we got to focus on stopping this flood from happening, okay?" Naruto says, looking forward with the serious look on his face.
"Yeah." I nod, a serious look coming back to my face as I look forward as well. "No, this is something I've got to get off my chest. I lost both my parents when I was very little. And Shiin's clan took me in and raised me. Even though they were a relatively small band of shinobi in the Land of Rice Paddies, they made a name for themselves because of their strong will and determination. However, about a year ago, a new shinobi village was founded in the Land of Rice Paddies-- The Village Hidden in the Sound." Menma starts to explain his whole past, a saddened tone kept to his voice the whole time.
The Hidden Sound Village. Yep, that's Orochimaru's doing. Gosh, I hate him. "One by one, Shiin's clan lost their most skilled ninja. They kept defecting over to the Sound Village. Before long, the feudal lord stopped hiring the clan altogether. Shiin was still leader of the clan. He needed to provide for his men. So he set his sights on this village's mine. The plan was just to scare the villagers and chase them off. But they resisted. And things turned out ugly. I wanted to escape. I tried to run, but--" Menma says, trailing off and staying silent for a moment.
Poor Menma... So that means... "I'm one of them. A member of a clan full of criminals. It would have been better if I had fallen to my death. At least, that ending would have been a just one." Menma says, an even sadder tone coming to his voice. He's not one of them. Just because he's part of that clan, doesn't make him a nasty criminal too. "The image of all those villagers dying at our hands was too much. I wanted to forget every bit of it. And so, like a coward, I used a secret jutsu passed down through the clan that erases one's memory. However, the jutsu didn't work like it's supposed to. It didn't last. My vile memory came flooding back to me after only a few hours." Menma says, though I can tell by the look on his face that he's truly saddened by telling us this.
I stop completely as does Naruto. Not only did we make it to the mine, but I can't help but feel... I don't know. He could remember who he was this whole time? The whole time he lived with us, when we bought him ramen, when he helped all those people? He could remember all of it? I feel so...sad. Betrayed, even. Why wouldn't he tell us? "Are you telling us--" Naruto starts off, clearly angry. "--you could remember--" I say, though it comes off in a sad tone. "--this whole time?" Naruto and I finish together, though Naruto's anger overpowers my sadness.
"I'm sorry." Menma apologizes, clearly sad for having deceived us this whole time. "You! Get off of me!" Naruto yells angrily, throwing Menma off his back and against a tree. We both turn to him, Naruto holding up an angry fist. I stare at him, tears brimming my eyes as my sadness slowly turns to anger. "I can't believe you didn't come clean and tell us the truth from the get-go! Your lies put a lot more people in danger!" Naruto yells at Menma, obviously angry.
"I thought you and I were friends, Menma, ya know! How could you look at me, smile at me, and know that you're lying to me this whole time!? How come you didn't just come clean?!" I yell at him, staring at him with a hurt expression on my face. Menma looks down, a saddened expression on his own face. "The truth was too shameful. I couldn't let our clan's sins be known." Menma says, causing me to gasp a bit, though I still stare at him.
"Don't you see? I wanted to stop Shiin's ground from wreaking any more havoc. That's why I was pretending to have amnesia so I could turn over a new page and protect the village. I needed help. I thought if I could bring the mighty Leaf ninja here, you would be able to defeat them. I knew what Shiin was capable of. And I knew I couldn't stand by and watch more innocent villagers die. Fate spared my life. And now, my purpose is to save those people." Menma explains, looking down with a saddened expression the whole time.
Menma... I can't be mad at you when you say that. You did it to protect the people, not to hurt my feelings. I get that. "Your purpose?" Naruto murmurs quietly. "Fate?" I murmur, looking at Menma with a small hint of a smile. "Do you see now? I had to tell you both those lies. I needed the help of the Leaf Ninja to stop Shiin from carrying out his final plan." Menma says, standing up and looking at us. "Huh?" Naruto says in confusion. "I was hoping to round them all up during their raid on the village earlier. But since I've some this far, I guess I'll have to stop the flood." Menma says, walking over to us.
He grabs my hand in his, placing his ocarina in my hand. "Naruto, Naira, thank you." He says, slowly letting my hand go. "You'll both have to take care of Shiin for me. No matter what happens, you must stop him." Menma says, looking at us with a serious look. I stare at the flute, tears welling up in my eyes. "What are you giving me your ocarina?" I ask quietly, staring at Menma. "Because this is goodbye." Menma says, a smile gracing his lips. I... I didn't want to hear those words. Not one bit. I stare him, tears clouding my vision.
"Somebody has to set off the paper bombs inside the mine." Menma tells us, his bright smile not fading. "What? If you do that, there's no way you're going to--" Naruto says, though he stops. "There's no way... You're going to live." I say quietly, holding his ocarina tightly in my hand. "Thanks to both of you and your friends, Naruto, Naira, my life is going to mean something." Menma says with the smile still there. His life does mean something. It always has. "Then let me do it, Menma! I can set off the paper bombs and teleport out of there! You won't have to die, ya know!" I plead with him, tears rolling down my cheeks now.
"That's too risky, Naira. I don't want you to die." Menma says softly, giving me the softest smile I have seen from him yet. "Goodbye." He says softly, rushing toward both Naruto and I. He pushes both Naruto and I off the side of the cliff. "Menma!" I scream out his name, or well, the name Naruto and I gave him. Naruto and I fall until we both grab a branch to a tree. I see a large explosion happen at the dam. "Here comes the flood." Naruto says, watching it carefully.
"Menma... Menma hurry!" I scream loudly, hoping that he heard me. Naruto and I hope up on a ledge, starting to run away to avoid both explosions. I look back, seeing the mine explode and rubble shoot everywhere. "Menma! No!" Naruto yells back. "Menma!" I scream, my tears still rolling down my cheeks as we both run away. I look back, seeing the water flow has been stopped and that we are no longer in any danger. Naruto and I stop running, jumping onto a tree branch and examining the damage.
It seems Menma's plan had worked just the way he wanted it too. "How could he? How could he just sacrifice himself? Menma!" Naruto yells loudly, his voice echoing. "I don't know... How could he just die like that?" I ask, looking down. I wipe my tears away, looking up and staring at the rubble once more. I suddenly sense a familiar chakra presence, knowing it belongs to that man Shiin. I look over, seeing him run along the the riverbank. "That scum. He won't get away!" Naruto says angrily, seeing him as well.
"He's going to pay for Menma's life!" I yell out angrily, looking at Naruto. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto and I yell out, doing our shadow clone jutsu. I would use my Fly Raijin Jutsu, but there's no point if he keeps on running. So why not distract him with Shadow Clones then use Rasengan? Naruto and I chase after Shiin with our clones, us running on the water. "Hold it right there!" Naruto and I yell out to him. "What? More pests interfering with my plan?" He says annoyed, using his one weapon to take out the shadow clones running on the water. "You think I'd fall for that easy jutsu, huh?" Shiin says confidently, not stopping his running.
Out of the smoke caused by Shiin destroying our clones, Naruto and I run out with a fully formed Rasengan. Naruto and I jump toward Shiin, aiming our Rasengans at him. Shiin stops, turning toward us and throwing his weapon toward us. "Now die!" Shiin yells at us. "If Menma's not here to defeat you, we will!" Naruto and I yell in unison, a serious tone to our voices. Our Rasengans hit Shiin's weapon, knocking it out of the way. If I would've know my Rasengan could do that, I would have done this a long time ago. "Rasengan!" Naruto and I yell in unison, hitting Shiin and knocking unconscious.
A little while later, the sun had already risen so it's early morning. We have tied up all the bandits, making sure they can't get loose. The villagers are all gathered around the bandits, looking at them with somewhat angry and happy looks. I'm standing by Neji, watching as the sun still rises over the mountain side. I look back down, tears stinging my eyes. Menma... "He gave his life to save these people." Neji says, placing a hand on my shoulder. I stay looking down, still truly saddened at the turnout of this mission.
"Despite his evil deeds in the past, deep down he was good." Tenten says quietly, staring at the rising sun along with everyone else. "Goodbye, mister." Fuki, the little girl, says quietly. "I owe him an apology." Nan says sadly, a hint of regret for the way he treated Menma heard in his voice. "We didn't know it then, but in the end, wiping away that memory was the only salvation that Menma needed." Neji says quietly once more. I look over, seeing Naruto start to walk away.
I... I can't take this anymore... It's so... So hard... Menma was such a great person, ya know. I look up, tears rolling down my cheeks. "Menma... He was such a good person, ya know!" I yell out, tears streaming down my cheeks. I turn toward Neji, crying into his chest now. I grip his shirt tightly, quietly crying into his chest. I've always done this. Cried into Neji's chest when I sad. And he'd always let me do it. Though recently he has started to complain, I know he doesn't mind. He would rather his shirt be soaked then for me to be sad. Even though he doesn't admit it. Neji wraps an around around my back, patting my head softly. "He gave his life for a good reason, Naira." Neji consoles me quietly. "I know..." I say quietly, though I don't stop my crying.
Several hours later, we arrived back to the village just before the sun had set. Naruto and I immediately put our stuff back at our home before getting three bowels of ramen with menma pickled bamboo shoots on it. Neji had told me that he wanted to give me some space to grieve over Menma's death, so he'd eat ramen with me some other time. I agreed to that, and so now Naruto and I are in a small forested part of the village. Naruto and I are sitting next to each other, our ramen in our hands.
I put Menma's ocarina on top of a rock, as if that's symbolizing his spirit. We have his ramen bowl in front of the rock, Naruto and I both sitting across from him. "Well, we promised you we'd eat this ramen together. And we always keep our word. Right sis?" Naruto says, looking over at me with a slight smile. I nod, a sad smile on my face. "Yeah. We always keep our word no matter what, ya know. Let's enjoy our ramen." I say quietly, slowly starting to eat the long awaited bowl of ramen.
With every bite I take, more and more tears blur my vision. That is, until the stream down my face. I finish my ramen, tears streaming down my cheeks the whole time. "Man, that was so delicious." Naruto says, tear rolling down his own cheeks though he smiles and looks at the ocarina. "That was very good. Worth the wait, ya know." I say quietly, tears flowing down my cheeks though I choose to smile through it as well. I smile as brightly as I can, opening my tear filled eyes and looking up in the sky only to see an image of Menma smiling back at me softly. "Bye, Menma." Naruto and I say in unison, smiling right back at the image we both see. Goodbye, Menma. I'll miss you, ya know.
(Author: Heyo! So, I'm not even gonna lie. This made me cry. Menma's death always makes me cry. Anyway, so the next few chapters are going to be last ones of Naruto. Then... WE'RE AT SHIPPUDEN! OH YEAH! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one. See ya!)
