The aftermath was short.
Zabuza and Haku disappeared into the mist, leaving nothing behind except their footprints and the memory of their presence. Gatō was dead, his body discarded like the filth he had spread across Wave. The country was free. The chains that had bound it had been broken.
And the people—oh, the people were celebrating.
Naruto didn't understand it.
They sang, they cheered, they laughed, they danced. Children ran barefoot through the streets, their little hands clutching whatever scraps of food had been handed to them, their cheeks stretched wide with the kind of smiles only the innocent could manage. Men stood together, raising bottles of sake in the air, drinking to a future that had once seemed impossible. Women clung to each other, wiping tears from their eyes, whispering words of relief as if speaking too loudly would wake them from the dream.
They were celebrating death.
Naruto sat on the outskirts of it all, watching with unreadable eyes.
Gatō had been a terrible man. A man who starved the people of Wave, who crushed them under his heel, who used and discarded lives as if they were nothing. He had deserved to die. That was what everyone said.
But Naruto wondered about the men who had worked for him.
Sure, they were criminals, thugs, murderers. But at the end of the day, didn't they have families too? Didn't they have people who waited for them to come home? Wives? Mothers? Children?
The people of Wave were celebrating, but somewhere, somewhere, there were people crying.
Naruto had seen it before.
When a hunter took down a beast, they celebrated their victory. But the cubs left behind would never understand.
He had seen it again and again.
How different was this?
Naruto didn't know. He didn't want to think about it anymore.
So, he sat there, detached from the joy, watching his team instead.
Kakashi was recovering well, no longer leaning against a crutch, no longer favoring his ribs. Sasuke, too, had healed completely, his wounds gone as if they had never been there. Sakura was smiling, relief on her face, exhaustion finally settling in now that everything was over.
And Naruto… Naruto sat on the steps of a half-built house, knees drawn up, chin resting on them, glowing sapphire eyes scanning the streets.
"Naruto!"
He turned his head.
Inari stood there, grinning, eyes still puffy from all the crying he had done earlier. The kid ran up to him, stopping just a foot away, hesitating only for a moment before bowing. "Thank you!" he said, voice full of sincerity. "Thank you for saving us!"
Naruto blinked.
Then he nodded. "You're welcome."
Inari straightened up, rocking on his heels. "You're kinda weird, you know?"
Naruto just tilted his head. He did know.
The boy laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "But you're cool."
Naruto didn't respond to that.
The village thanked him too, every face that passed, every voice that reached him, every grateful smile. They saw him as a hero.
He didn't know what to do with that.
So, he did nothing.
And then, just like that, Team Seven was leaving.
They stood at the edge of the village, bags packed, weapons secured, mission complete. Kakashi stood in front, a lazy eye crinkled in amusement, while Sakura chattered about how much she couldn't wait to get home and take a real bath. Sasuke remained silent, as usual, but his eyes were sharp, as if he was still turning over every battle in his head, analyzing, calculating, preparing for the next.
Naruto simply adjusted the straps of his bag.
"Oi, Naruto!"
He turned back.
Inari stood there with his mother, Tsunami, at his side, and behind them, the entire village.
"Take care!" Inari called out.
Naruto nodded. "You too."
The people of Wave cheered as they walked away.
And behind them, as the crowd dispersed and the people began discussing what came next, someone brought up the bridge.
They needed a name for it.
Something that would symbolize their struggle.
Something that would represent their victory.
Suggestions were thrown out. Some ridiculous, some grand, some poetic.
Tazuna, however, had already made up his mind.
He took one last look toward the road where Team Seven had disappeared, then smiled.
"The Great Naruto Uzumaki Bridge," he declared.
Years later, this bridge would have entire chapters and even books dedicated to it— being addressed as the bridge that didn't just connect two lands or flourished a nation's economy— but as the bridge that changed the course of history forever.
And that was that.