Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

With all her remaining strength, Sakura held on tightly to her sensei and dashed through the trees as fast as she could to the only place her former teammates could be, the Valley of the End.

After what felt like an eternity later, Sakura arrived at the cliff just before the waterfall. She helped Kakashi down from her side and looked around her. It looked as if the war had taken place here, as well.

She rose slowly and approached the edge. There, at the bottom of the valley, were two figures of the men cared most about. Not moving, not making a sound. A wave of emotion struck her and she sprang down to them as fast as she could.

The sight wasn't pretty. The two boys - no, men - were beaten to a pulp. Their eyes swollen shut. Their arms missing, covered in blood. Without skipping a beat, Sakura fell to the ground and began healing the two.

"Sakura-chan… Thank you", the blonde began to open his eyes and smile as his teammate healed him. Sasuke's eyes peeled open in that moment as well.

"Sakura…. never mind me-"

"Stay quiet now. I need to concentrate"

Sakura cut him off and continued to tend to them both. Sasuke didn't understand why she was healing him. After what he had put her through, after what he had put them all through, she was saving his life without even a second thought. As if everything had returned to the way it once was.

"I'm sorry…" he managed to spurt out.

"Sorry… for what?"

"For everything"

His voice was sincere. He hadn't said much - he couldn't say much - but Sakura understood what that meant. Her old teammate was back from the depths of darkness. While Naruto never gave up hope, Sakura had left behind her dream that Sasuke would return to Konaha and be his old self again. Yet here he was, finally giving her the apology she deserved. She could no longer contain her emotions and tears welled up in her eyes, no matter how hard she fought them back.

"You should be…. Really…. You… You idiot…"

Naruto lay there with a smirk on his face, despite everything he had gone through. His best friend, his brother, his teammate was back. Sakura's tears brought him joy, as he knew they were no longer tears of sadness from Sasuke. She calmed herself down, but kept her eyes to the ground.

"I've stopped the bleeding… that should be good for until we can get you home" She said, wiping her eyes. The two in front of her sat up slowly.

"Teme is back Sakura! We finally did it" Naruto was grinning from ear to ear. Sakura looked to Sasuke, and he had a huge smile on his face as well, completely uncharacteristic of himself. Here sat a man who had just had the burden of revenge, of hate, of darkness completely lifted off his shoulders. It was no wonder he couldn't help himself.

"After these past few years, I thought he was hopeless, but turns out the real Sasuke was there all along! He just needed a good 'ol Uzumaki beatdown to set him straight!" Naruto cracked up at himself, leaving Sasuke to chuckle at his boisterous friend, and Sakura to laugh through her tears.

"Naruto, aren't you forgetting something?" Sasuke finally asked. Naruto nodded and tried to get up, but from his chakra depletion, blood loss, and the recent loss of a limb, fell back down immediately, face first into the small river, sending his teammates into another bout of laughter.

He composed himself and got back up, this time slower to keep his balance, laughing at himself all the while.

"Sakura… could you give me a hand?" Sasuke asked softly as he himself had trouble rising. She reached out and met his hand, and he lifted himself up safely. Sakura held tightly and helped him off the remnants of the statues that lay destroyed at the base of the valley, and over to where Naruto stood.

Naruto stood with Sasuke to his left side. The two joined their remaining hands and formed the seal to break the Infinite Tsukiyomi.

Kakashi jumped down to where they were. He looked at Sasuke, unsure of what to say, but no words needed to be said. They nodded at each other in understanding, and that was enough.

"Shall we go home?" Kakashi watched his students, no longer innocent children, but veterans of war. The three rose to start walking back, and almost simultaneously, Naruto and Sasuke collapsed on the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

"I'm sorry guys… I'm so tired…" Naruto squeaked out on the ground. Sasuke looked over and caught his glance.

"Guess you'll get left behind then, dobe" Sasuke said in reply with a smirk, getting himself up quickly. Before he could basque in his small victory for another second, he collapsed again.

Kakashi and Sakura smiled and laughed at the two, already competing with each other as they had back in their genin days. Sakura approached Sasuke and crouched, motioning for him to climb on her back.

"Are you sure?" Sasuke said, sitting up. After all, the last time they interacted, he had left her unconscious with a terrible genjutsu. Sakura nodded. "It's not too far back. You need to rest".

Sasuke climbed on Sakura's back, holding her tightly with his one good arm and nuzzled his face on her shoulder. No more words were said between them, but Sakura swore she felt a tear fall on her bare skin.

Kakashi picked up Naruto on his back as well and they began their journey back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the two heroes of the Fourth Great Ninja War fast asleep on their backs.

A/N: Hi guys! I know most of this was recapping what happened at the end of the manga, but it would have been weird not to include it. My vision for this is to be a SasuSaku story, as true to their characters as possible, but we'll see how much time I have to write and expand. Please review and let me know if you'd like to read more.