With Konohagakure rescued the four undead Hokage passed on, free from the Shinigami's stomach. Kurama was reunited with the other half of his chakra, a fact that many Konoha shinobi found downright terrifying.

After the defeat of Madara Uchiha, miraculously the Shinobi Rengogun did not fall apart. Some attributed this to bonds formed by fighting alongside each other against a common foe being hard to break, others whispered insistence that the Shinobi Rengogun was held together out of fear for the Taiken who lead them.

Outside of Konoha rumors abound of the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, both within and outside of the shinobi world. Civilians whispered in fear of someone that they'd heard little of, a ninja titled the Kami no Shinobi who could reshape the land, walk on clouds, and bring crowds to their knees with his very presence.

Among the shinobi world Naruto became known as the Futarime no Rikudo or the Kono Yo no Kyuseishu, shinobi of Otagakure apparently even referred to the blonde legend as Seiten Taisei. No one bothered with a bingo book entry because the young Hokage was in history books of every ninja village academy within a month.

Time passed and things remained surprisingly peaceful, the world didn't suddenly stop having conflict but there was a period of peace among the shinobi villages. It had actually taken a few months for Naruto and Sasuke to both get used to the sudden lack of life or death battles, the two having taken their pent up energy out on each other in sparring matches.

Orochimaru had been allowed to keep hold of Otagakure no Sato, but he was not granted the recognized title of Kage and the Sannin was sentenced to pay his debts for his crimes by using his research to help the other villages. The dark haired Sannin had briefly looked for Kabuto, but when he found someone who looked suspiciously similar to his former right hand shinobi running a simple orphanage he let it go after confirming the children were actually being sent to good homes and not people like himself. The man would not risk experimenting on victims outside of criminals supplied to him by other ninja villages, surprisingly content with this arrangement likely due to how lenient his sentence was for the crimes.

Obito Uchiha had been mostly left out of the history books, a small mention that a dead Uchiha hero named Obito had been impersonated by a nameless masked Uchiha that had also impersonated Madara and briefly become Jubi Jinchuriki the only mention of him, most of his crimes attributed to Madara Uchiha.

Sakura Haruno became the first of her family to become jonin, the pink haired kunoichi still wasn't as powerful as her two teammates, but interacting with other shinobi more gave her a better perspective and more confidence. The classmates of the Nidaime Sannin all become jonin rather young too, Kiba was a bit embarrassed to be the last one to achieve the rank after Shino but accepted the promotion from Naruto with a proud smile regardless.

Hinata ended up joining the Anbu to become one of Naruto's personal guard and naming her little sister Hanabi as heiress, some elders of her clan considered branding her with the branch family Fuin but Hiashi had fought against it, reminding them that Anbu served directly under the Hokage and who their Hokage was. The Hyuga elders didn't like it, but everyone knew how protective the Rokudaime Hokage was of those he considered close to him.

Haku got the impression Hinata never truly got over her crush on Naruto but didn't antagonize the kunoichi, he knew he could trust Naruto and that Hinata wouldn't do anything malicious. The Hyoton using boy himself had basically become the Hokage's assistant, which everyone who worked in the tower insisted was scandalous but Haku did his job well and took it rather seriously.

Sasuke had actually approached Jiraiya to take over the man's spy network, insisting that the old man needed to retire eventually. Jiraiya himself had argued that Sasuke was far too serious and uptight to handle his spy network, and eventually after trailing the Sannin for months the young Uchiha simply decided to start his own network.

Kimimaro had also joined Anbu, and at one point almost accidentally killed Naruto via heart attack by asking to officially court Tayuya. Kin found this medical emergency the funniest thing to ever happen and had teased Tayuya about it for months, the foul mouthed Uzumaki having actually retired entirely to play her flute for fun instead of to kill people.

Isaribi seemed oddly content to just live with the Uzumaki clan, no one really wanted to push her to leave and she saw no reason to. She had plenty of social interactions while out shopping and got along well with the people who visited the clan house.

Anko wasn't happy about Orochimaru's lenient sentence, but with his Juin gone from her neck and the man oddly content to live under the thumb of the village he'd once betrayed and despised she focused instead on raising to the rank of jonin herself.

Kakashi had tried to return Obito's eye to the Uchiha clan when he retired from active service, but Sasuke had insisted the man keep it.

Tsunade continued to work at the hospital, training iryonin and keeping the role as head of the main Konohagakure shinobi hospital. She ended up working with Orochimaru more than she expected, albeit from a distance, as the man's research data regarding medical matters were forwarded to her although she didn't interact with him in person very much.

Itachi was the tricky one, he didn't want the truth of the Uchiha Massacre to come to light on a grand scale. Sasuke argued against this, saying the entire truth should be stated, that Danzo had been the mastermind behind it all. Itachi thought this was a bit naive, but agreed with using the deceased Shimura as a scapegoat. Soon enough Itachi was head of the Uchiha clan, as much as it had dwindled, and even worked on getting the shinobi police force going again with the assistance of genin and chunin volunteers.

Orochimaru even kept his promise, although Naruto had been embarrassed to bring it up to the man and had even danced around the subject by mentioning a lot of his friends were starting to have kids. The Sannin's grin had almost made Naruto reconsider, but the baby was a healthy baby boy with Naruto's eyes and Haku's hair. The blonde had almost expected a Rinnegan, implanted Sharingan, Hashirama cells, or a spliced Kekkei Genkai but to his relief the baby simply had Haku's natural affinity for Hyoton, probably Uzumaki stamina too. Haku had insisted on the name Momo, in honor of the man who trained him and allowed him to be with Naruto in the first place, and Momo Uzumaki was loved by his parents.

Sakura had chased after Sasuke for a little bit longer but his workaholic attitude and lack of interest finally had the pink haired girl eventually give up, letting herself try more casual dating in her teens although she couldn't help but wish Sasuke had reciprocated her feelings for him at least a little bit. To his credit the Uchiha had told her outright that he saw her as a teammate, and had assured her that she was very pretty, but that she'd be better of not trying to marry into the Uchiha clan.

Ino Yamanaki, Choji Akamichi, and Shikamaru Nara followed in their parents footsteps, becoming a respected trio of capable jonin and heads of their own clan. Shikamaru had surprised no one by not courting anyone, what was surprising was Gaara's sister Temari courting him. Ino gave up on Sasuke long before Sakura did, and wound up annoying Tsunade by dating hospital staff for a while before settling down. Choji had been surprised when a kunoichi from Kumo named Karui had approached him and complimented his figure after the war, the two hit it off rather well.

Neji and Tenten ended up together too, although not as officially as most couples. Tenten retired to open a weapon shop once she made jonin while Neji had joined the Anbu and simply moved in with her, some older folks thought this was a bit scandalous but their friends were happy for them. Rock Lee had actually dated Sakura for a bit, and surprisingly the pink haired kunoichi wound up with him a bit more permanently after insisting he grow his hair out at least a bit.

Shino and Kiba became known as eligable bachelors, the only clan heirs not snatched up and as a result their popularity with the fairer sex got surprisingly high. Shino took it in stride but was secretly mortified every time he received an invitation to dinner by more than one girl at the same time, wondering how they could have the confidence. Kiba followed in the noble footsteps of the gallant Jiraiya and his popularity swiftly plummeted among girls actually looking for something long term.

Kirigakure no Sato maintained a shady reputation, but Zabuza didn't mind, he refused jobs that were downright morally reprehensible out of hand these days. His old swordsman group was even revived under a new name, Kiri no Shinobigatana Rokunin Shu. They had six of the seven swords back, Samehada still in Naruto's possession at the insistence of Zabuza. The Mizukage argued that the Samehada as a sentient weapon chose its wielder, so was unreliable to be considered a weapon of Kirigakure.

Amegakure no Sato was rebuilt once more as a minor ninja village, but the major villages provided more assistance than ever before and their help was appreciated. Konan lead the village and few opposed her peaceful rule, it helped that Isobu had decided to stick around and became something of a guardian spirit for the village.

Kumogakure no Sato stopped hoarding power as much, A maintained a strict military doctrine but was far more focused on his shinobi developing their own power instead of trying to take from other villages. They became the backbone of the Shinobi Rengogun military arm, not that it was needed as often anymore.

Tsuchigakure no Sato finally saw a Yondaime Tsuchikage in Kurotsuchi as Onoki eventually retired, the village becoming far less isolationist in a new era.

Sunagakure no Sato never truly became a rich village, but maintained its status as a great shinobi village with Gaara being known as a hero who helped save the world by keeping the Ichibi no Tanuki from the grasp of Akatsuki.

Takigakure no Sato was never truly rebuilt, many of their ninja including Shibuki and Fu joined Konohagakure. The Nanabi Jinchuriki became friends with many of Naruto's friends and even ended up with Shino, although that had started with her pretending to date him so civilian women twice his age would leave him alone.

Killer B remained in Kumogakure no Sato, his control over his Biju having him considered something of a guardian figure for the village. Yugito however had requested leave to travel and had left her home to explore as she hadn't been allowed to do before, traveling with Utakata for a time.

Hoshigakure no Sato didn't become a great ninja village, but produced many strong shinobi under the leadership of Sumaru, who insisted Konohagakure shouldn't even be considered a hidden village due to how public it is and that the Hokage was far too powerful to be considered a simple Kage anymore. Sadly for him his arguments never got him the title of Kage but his goal of becoming acknowledged as Hoshikage by the wider world remained.

Koyuki, Toki, and Haruna formed a long lasting alliance, their trade caravans well protected by the new era of peace and the patrols of the Shinobi Rengogun.

Son Goku hid in the mountains around Iwagakure, having no interest in becoming their guardian but he would not cause conflict. Kokuo, the Gobi, left the shinobi world to explore the ocean, his appearance spreading in legends of some strange equine Kaima among sailors.

Kurama was pleased to be free, but surprisingly stuck around Konohagakure. The Kitsune may not trust the Uchiha as a clan, but he trusted Naruto would not let them control him as Madara had once done. He'd considered remaining with Naruto as partners, but had settled for giving the blonde permission to call on him with Kuchiyose.

Finally, unknown to all, a shadowy figure, the manifested will of a goddess long gone, hid away to bide its time. It had never expected the incarnates of Indra and Ashura to ruin its plans so thoroughly, but there would be next time, there would always be next time.