I know I haven't written anything in awhile; however, I've been very busy with work and couldn't find time to think, much the less write. Anyways, this came about from a angst part of my mind and my beta -yes I actually had a beta for this story- keep on yelling at me for abusing Naruto. Though, I have this bad habit if I really like a character, I'll put them through emotional trials/death too many times to count, but it was liked in the end. So, a thanks goes out to Prince Krappy for being my lovely beta this time around. I hope you all like.
They found his broken body, bloody, beaten, scarred, and mangled and lost their stomachs contents at the atrocious sight with only a single glance. His legs were broken; the bones protruding out of the rotten skin, made him incapable of running away, while his right arm was almost torn completely off, to prevent him from attacking. Third degree burns covered his chest and upper legs, completely missing the stomach area, but that was because his stomach had been ripped open from the inside as a monster clawed its way out.
The worse part of it all was the fact the body showed signs that he was alive throughout the whole torturous process. His mouth was wide open -blood trailing out of the crevasses of his lips and down his face- forever frozen in a silent scream. Blue eyes wide with pain and fogged over with the veil of death. The killing blow was a deep gash to the throat, the blood from the wound saturated his sunkiss hair, turning patches a horrid rusty brown color.
Clear as day, the signs were all there, the bijuu had been extracted; and before that, the Jinchuuriki tortured. However, Uzumaki Naruto never went down without a fight. Defensive wounds littered his body, and the countless charred remains surrounded the desolate area. He had not gone down without taking a few of Akatsuki's members with him. Neither did he die without destroying the base which the Akatsuki dared to contain Jinchuuriki and their prisoners.
A team of Konohagakure shinobi were the first to find the half eaten, rotten flesh that was once the body of Uzumaki Naruto who had disappeared for months. The ninjas didn't want to take the demon boy's body back with them. Neither did they want to give the Uzumaki a proper burial. No, the shinobi want to treat Naruto like the demon he never was. They wanted to strip him of his hitai-ate and burn his body to ensure Leaf's secrets. However, it just so happened that the leader of the reconnaissance team was Sai and he did not take kindly to the idea. As carefully as he could, the ROOT ANBU stored his first friend's body within a sealing scroll, which he treated like glass for the remainder of the mission.
When the reconnaissance team returned to settlement Konohagakure no Sato had setup after the destruction of the village itself, Sai had the displeasure of presenting the Godaime Hokage and everyone close to the blond the broken body of their comrade. Upon seeing her "little brother's" body maimed after hoping he was alive for the last few months and believing so with all her heart, Tsunade broke down crying. She had already lost both her teammates -Orochimaru had been lost a longtime ago to evil and Jiraiya's death was still fresh wounds to her heart- and all her family, the only person she had left to live for was before her, dead. It was the curse of the Shodai's necklace.
Iruka was right behind her. Upon seeing the body, the boy's teacher all but screamed in despaired. Before Naruto was captured, he had mourn for his lover's death, and Naruto had been there to comfort him, but he had comeback to him. Kakashi survived, another scar to add to his collection of many others and an early retirement, but Kakashi was with him once again. His lover's return was a miracle, and Iruka wished with all his heart for another when Pein took Naruto. He wasn't so lucky this time around. The Hatake took it just as hard seeing his student dead before his time and held onto his dolphin as tears rolled down his eyes.
Sakura had a similar reaction as her mentor; though, instead of breaking down crying, she broke the ground with her fist. Hinata ran out of the tent with the thoughts of Naruto's capture being her fault running through her mind. Neji ran after the Hyuuga Heiress in order to calm her down and pushed his own feelings away. He didn't want to deal with his feelings -he couldn't. Kiba was howling with anguish, and Ino, for once, couldn't bring herself to yell at the canine shinobi for his doglike habits. She was too caught up in her own sorrow. The others all had a stony expression on their faces; they were use to death by this point in their lives, but they couldn't stop the tears rolling down their faces. Naruto was their sunshine, and now he was gone.
It took them two days to arrange the funeral, seeing as all available shinobi were back inside Konohagakure's gate fixing the destroyed city and not in their makeshift settlement. However, the elders who were still alive refused the body of the Uzumaki to be buried within the walls of the village. Though, they later regretted the decision when Tsunade announced the blond's full name after the small funeral was over. Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, the son of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, and the Princess of Whirlpool Country, Uzumaki Kushina.
As for the funeral itself, only a select few were allowed to enter and only those few knew the location of the gravesite. It was deep in the forest, where no one would find it unless they knew the exact location. There was no way one could stumble upon the clearing, that was how well hidden the clearing was. The clearing itself was plan and simple, surrounded by foliage since Naruto always loved plants, while the gravestone was facing outwards in front of a small pond. When the sun would rise, Naruto would be able to see the beauty as it washed over the water and the green trees.
The ceremony was simple and short, Naruto wouldn't want them to mourn over him for long. But that didn't stop the hole in their heart from retreating. The rain pelted down on their heads -just as it had since Naruto's body returned home- as the end of the ceremony came in, the rain started to lighten up. No one seemed to really notice; if they did, they didn't care.
He ran, pushing himself further and faster than his body would allow. If it wasn't for the adrenaline running through his veins, his stamina would have given out long ago. Chakra pumped into his feet, propelling him to go faster. At the speed he was going, the rain pelting his skin actually hurt, but he didn't care. He couldn't care. Not with what he had gone through in the last year.
Uchiha Sasuke had finally completed his ambition in life: to kill his brother for massacring their clan. It was a bitter sweet victory when Uchiha Madara revealed to him the massacre had been an order from Konohagakure; Itachi was only following orders. That was when his goals in life changed. For corrupting his brother and forcing the Uchiha clan's mass genocide, the Uchiha's new goal was to destroy Konohagakure. He never had the chance though, seeing as Pein -the so called leader of the Akatsuki- destroyed the village before him.
At the time, Sasuke couldn't really care for the village he used to be call home. A twinge of bitterness raced through him for the sole reason he wasn't the one who destroyed the wretched place. Other than that, he never gave the rumors of Konoha or any of its residence another thought. He went on with his life, his ambition complete and his goal already fulfilled without him having to do any work. This gave him the opportunity to finally live his life anyway he wanted. No longer did he have to avenge his clan or his brother's honor. His life was finally his own. With everything complete, he left Team Hawk and the Akatsuki.
For a few months, he traveled from land to land, enjoying his freedom. However, he never stayed in any one place too long, he keep on moving when the village or town he reside became too familiar. Felt too comfortable. He could never settle down, his heart wouldn't let him, but his brain refused to acknowledge the fact so he stubbornly continued to travel across the different lands. Searching for the place where his heart would finally feel at rest, he never found his paradise.
One night, a week before, Sasuke got a visit -the reason for his current journey of haste- from a small group he had never seen in his life, save for the leader who he never thought he was see again.
"You look shocked to see me boy," the snarl sent shivers down the Uchiha's spine. The presence of the group in front of him, unnerving the otherwise static man. In these situations, a man was faced with two decisions: fight or flight. Sasuke was never one to pass up a fight. This was not a normal occurrence and every instinct in his body was screaming at his to run, too bad he was surrounded. "Why are you here, Kyuubi?" Sasuke asked. His voice even, not betraying his flight instincts. His eyes were darting from one bijuu to the next; all nine of them were surrounding him. Cutting off any possible escape, but their position never took on a threatening stance. "What do you want, Fox?" A threatening growl came from the King of the Bijuu while chakra lashed out at the Uchiha, pushing him backwards while burning his clothing. "Watch your tongue, boy!" The other tailed beasts bristled, ready to attack him at any given chance. Nonetheless, with one look from the kitsune, they all settled down. Though, the relaxed nature they once held was gone. All of them seemed to be on edge, glaring at him. "Ningen, you should learn to respect those that hold more power than you," the Gobi murmured quietly, but Sasuke still heard. For some reason, he knew the demon said it just loud enough for him to hear. "Kyuubi-sama, why are we wasting our time with this ningen?" the Nanabi questioned, eyeing Sasuke hungrily. "He isn't worthy of our time." "Out of respect to the brat," Kyuubi answered, growing tired of being near the human in front of him. His vessel always had a soft spot for the ningen, even after he tried and just barely failed at killing his Jinchuuriki a couple of times; the boy still held the Uchiha as one of his precious people. "Now, listen here, boy," the kitsune turned his attention back to Sasuke. "The next time we meet, I will kill you on sight-" the fox was cut off by the orochi. "That goes for the rest of us as well," the Hachibi hissed, his snake eyes never blinking as he glared. Nibi voiced her own thoughts as well. "We're only here because of the Sunshine." They were speaking in riddles, or at least that was what Sasuke thought, until Kyuubi told him how the Bijuu were freed. How Naruto sacrificed his life during the extraction process to set the demon free willingly, destroying the stone caging of the other tailed beasts in the process. How after they were set free, only weeks after Sasuke had left the Akatsuki, the demon had sought out and slaughtered every remaining member of the cursed organization who still held an affiliation to them. Not even Madara with his so called Eternal Sharingan could not stop them; he too was not sparred. All throughout his explanation, the Uchiha could not comprehend what was being said to him. Yet it sounded a lot like the fox was telling him Uzumaki Naruto was dead but that was impossible. The dobe couldn't die, it was impossible…
It had been a week, and Sasuke was still feverishly denying that Naruto was dead. He knew the dobe was alive so he couldn't be dead. He just couldn't; he still needed to fulfill his dread of being Hokage. Naruto needed to drag his ass back to Konohagakure like he promised, and the idiot never went back on his word. That was his nindo and he wouldn't let anyone forget that, so how could he forget it himself? Dying was just the same as forgetting.
The rain started to lighten before stopping, but the Uchiha didn't take notice. His mind was lost in the endless chaos as it had been in for the last week. No matter how much he tried to forget, he remembered that much more. So he ran; he ran as fast as he possibly could and then pushed himself even harder. Enhancing every one of his leaps with chakra, which got him further and further away from the lying demon. He never realized where he was going and didn't take time to look at his surroundings. He just ran.
Nevertheless, he came to a stop, and when he did. He wished he could keep running. For where his feet had taken him, where his heart had lead him, where his feet refused to move from, was a small alcove covered in foliage. He stood where a pond separated him from a group of ninjas partaking in a ceremony. Where half of his old team, Team 7, were standing close to the water's edge. Where a gravestone was placed between the two.
A gravestone which clearly read Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. The Forgotten Boy, the Lonely Child, the Kyuubi no Kitsune's Jinchuuriki & the Rokudaime Hokage.
Sasuke didn't remember when his feet started to move forward, but when he was standing on the water a few feet in front of the stone mark, he forced himself to stop. He knew the other Konohagakure shinobi were all watching him, waiting to see his reaction, to attack him if he tried anything, but he just didn't care. His eyes stayed trained on the gravestone, hoping it was just an illusion. But his sharingan told him otherwise.
Sasuke thought the rain started to fall once again when he heard the soft pitter-patter of water hitting water. However, he found otherwise when he felt no rain and the pitter-patter continued.
"Sasuke-" Sakura's voice was just a wisp in the wind.
"No," the last Uchiha said, denial filling his heart. "He's not dead. He can't be dead. Please, no." But his heart was broken and the tears flowing continuously down his face proved otherwise.
Naruto was dead, and Sasuke was broken. If anyone could look away from the sorrowful sight in front of them and down into the water's depths, they would have seen the Uchiha's reflection not of his older, broken and lost self, but of a younger Sasuke. One of him before he had made all his mistakes and gave up his own happiness, his future in Konoha, for revenge. Before him, where the gravestone was supposed to be casting a shadow, a young blond haired, blued eyed boy moved to wipe away the tears of the only one he ever loved. Kyuubi's last words to him -Naruto's dying words- ringing out in his mind, only, it wasn't the kitsune's voice saying them, but those that the message had been from.
"We'll meet again someday, I'm sure of it. Only this time, there will be nothing to come between us and until that day comes, I'll be waiting for you, teme. That's a promise. I love you Sasuke."
I hope this was enjoyable, even if it was a little depressing -that's my beta talking not me- and I would like to know what you all think.
Shi no Tenshi 902