Hello, everybody, so I know that many of you have read this story before, and many have reviewed (thank you very much for that). However, I have hit a road block in terms of what I wanted to write moving on, so I rewrote the whole story. It's along the same line, so you'll see many familiar features, but a lot is different as well. Hope you enjoy it!
"Sasuke..." He rasped, throat dry and vision fading.
"Naruto..." He heard a groggy reply.
"It's over, Sasuke," he struggled to say, even as he saw the sinisterly familiar faces of Team Taka arrive in the wreckage to bring Sasuke away. "Just come home."
"It's not home for me, Naruto," he heard the reply, almost a whisper. "The Kages... They took everything from me... They're the reason I had nothing left." He saw Sasuke look down at what was left of his left arm. "And now I've even less." The bleeding stump was hanging limp from his body as Jūgo picked up his leader.
"We can fix things, Sasuke!" Naruto was beginning to yell at this point. "We'll find you an arm! We'll work together to make this world a better place."
"This world will be a better place," Sasuke growled, even as his team turned to leave with him. "Once you're no longer living."
"Sasuke, don't go!" Naruto desperately tried to stand up.
"I will be back, Naruto," Sasuke replied with finality. "And I will make this wretched world right. I will have my revenge."
"Sasuke!"
Naruto shot up, his breathing laboured and his vision red. Instinctively, his left hand moved to hold his right, silently reassuring himself that his bandaged arm was still there. He looked around. His sheets were drenched with his sweat and his beautiful wife was sitting next to him, watching him with worry.
"Bad dream?" She asked, gently placing a hand on his tense shoulders.
"Yeah," he replied with a sigh, placing his face in his hands. "Really bad dream."
"It's ok," she replied, leaning over to pull him into a hug. "I dream of him too."
"This is different though," he mumbled, still shaken from the flashback. "I haven't had this dream in years. Usually it's our childhood or what our future could have been if he had returned. But this time it's about the last time I saw him." Taking in a deep breath, he looked at the clock. 5.42 am, the angry red numbers told him. "Well," he patted her arm gratefully. "Since I'm up I might as well go get ready for my mission huh?"
"Okay," she released him and slid out of bed. "I'll go make you some breakfast." Turning around, she winked at him. "Try not to take too long, kay?"
Chuckling to himself, he got up as well, heading to the shower. "Thanks Sakura-Chan."
::::::
"Sakura-chan," the blond called out as he walked in through the front door. "I'm home!" Sweat and grime covered his body and she spotted his bandaged arm tucked conveniently behind his back.
"Hey there, Naruto." She smiled warmly at him. "Welcome home." Walking up to him and tiptoeing, she gingerly planted a kiss on his lips. Looking into his eyes, she frowned. There was a tiredness that seemed to burden him, and there were eye bags under his eyes. Was he still losing sleep from the dream? "You should be at the hospital!" She scolded, giving him a once over. "Your chakra levels are dangerously low!"
"But the hospital is so boring!" He whined. "Plus, you're not there. That's why I came home first."
"You know why I have to be at home," she replied, looking down and rubbing her stomach fondly. Indeed, our favourite female protagonist was pregnant with her husband's child. "Both of us need our chakra."
"But Sakura-chan!" He pouted. Giggling, she took his hand and led him out of the door.
"No buts!" She said, holding up a finger, smiling. "I'll come with you, ok?" Oh, how he loved her smiles. They reflected a happiness and warmth that filled their lives. Sakura was a woman of emotion, and that's what he loved about her. Her tendency to express exactly what she felt meant that he knew when she was angry, sad, annoyed, or disgusted. But that's what made her smiles all the more valuable. Her smiles could send him to the ends of the earth, and he knew that she knew that.
"Ok!" He chirped, grinning with such brightness, she could mistake him for the sun. Little did he know, she was thinking along the same line. She, similarly, loved the way he grinned. He was always so warm and bright, always wearing his heart on his sleeve. The way he loved her ramen, the way he took care of her, the way he held her hand, it meant so much to her. She loved him; that went without saying. She loved him with such intensity that giving up her life was but a minor sacrifice if it meant that he could be safe.
Arm in arm, the couple made their way to the hospital. They walked and they talked, about how some people were dumber than him, and how they missed each other.
"Ok," she said, once they had reached the hospital. "You go in and get yourself fixed, while I go and visit Kakashi-sensei, ok?"
"Sure!" He grinned, yet again. "Say hi to Shizune nee-chan for me."
"Will do." She placing a kiss on his cheek before they went their separate ways.
Naruto smiled happily, shaking his head as he strolled into the hospital. While waiting for an available doctor, Naruto took a deep breath and looked back at the past 10 years. He was just a few months from becoming the Hokage. World peace had been achieved. Sure, threats had arisen over the years, but the important point was that the 5 Elemental Nations were friendly with each other. And finally, he had managed to wed the love of his life, and now, even father her child. As the thought crossed him, he looked down fondly upon his ring. He might have been the happiest man in Konoha.
Sakura on the other hand, traced the familiar steps from the hospital to the Hokage tower and up to the Hokage's office. To say that she was glad she married Naruto would serve as an understatement, and to have his child growing within her only fuelled her glee. Lifting her hand, she was about to knock, when she heard her sensei in deep conversation with his assistant.
"This is not good," she heard him grumble. "This is very not good."
"What do you want to do?" Shizune asked.
"Give me a moment to think," he snapped. "Goddamit this is really not good," he seemed to repeat himself.
"What's not good?" Sakura took the liberty of opening the door and poked her head in.
"Ah, Sakura!" Kakashi smiled, his tired eyes speaking volumes about the toll this job had on his person. "Nothing's wrong," he mumbled, but the way he hurriedly closed the file on his table said otherwise.
"Sensei," Sakura mustered her biggest puppy-dog face. "Don't you trust me?" She observed how Shizune looked away guiltily and Kakashi looked down, unperturbed.
"It has nothing to do with trust, Sakura," her sensei counselled. "It's just a really old threat has risen again, and there's nothing you could do to help." He gestured to her belly. "Especially not like that."
"Oh sensei," she walked over behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders, massaging the tight muscles she felt under her fingers. He hummed with appreciation. "It can't be too big a threat that Naruto can't handle right?"
"I don't know," Kakashi whispered back absentmindedly. "I really don't know."
"C'mon sensei," she giggled. "It's not like Sasuke's come back, is it?" Instantly the shoulders under her hands tensed and her sensei went rigid. Sakura, too, froze.
"Is it?" Sakura repeated, her voice barely over a whisper.
"Sakura, this is information that-"
"Don't give me that, sensei!" Sakura spun his chair around, much to Shizune's protest, but neither the Hokage nor his assistant moved to stop her. "I have a right to know! He was my teammate too!" At this point Sakura was shivering. Kakashi sighed.
"Take a seat, Sakura," he said, pointing to a chair beside him. His tone made no room for argument. As she complied, Kakashi once again opened the folder that he had closed earlier. "You asked for it."
Sakura nodded.
"One week ago, we received reports that there were suspicious characters lurking around the Hidden Sound Village. One in particular was specified to have had black hair and a missing arm." Sakura gulped, bracing herself for whatever was coming. "So I sent out a scouting team to check it out, but we lost communication with them and they never returned. As per procedure, I sent out a retrieval team two days ago, and they found this." Kakashi handed her several photos and Sakura's hand flew to her mouth as she felt the bike rise up her throat and tears sting her eyes.
"No way..." She whispered. The photo depicted a bloodbath. Each member of the team had been dismembered and sliced into pieces, their faces frozen in fear, begging for mercy. As she flipped through the pictures, she saw the charred body parts and the burnt wood. She didn't need to see the Uchiha symbol, painted on the tree with blood, to know who was responsible for this slaughter. A tear slid down her pale cheek. "No way…"
"To top it all off,"Kakashi continued, gently taking the photos from her grasp. "We've received reports of attacks on former Kages." Sakura looked up. "Some have been subtle, others have not." He stood up and walked to his shelf, pulling out another folder.
"Mei Terumi was assassinated four days ago by a man who seemed to have the ability to change his body into water. He was defeated and captured when he attempted to take the life of Chōjūrō, the current Mizukage, but he killed himself before he was interrogated." He handed a photo to her. Suigetsu, she recognised. "The Tsuchikage was seen attacked by a large man with orange hair, bearing marks of Orochimaru's curse seal. She was incapacitated, but managed to kill her attacker. This, too, happened four days ago." Another photo. Jūgo. "The Yondaime Raikage was found in his chambers, vomitting blood. Poison was found in his system, and he was unable to speak, but before they could find administer an antidote, he passed away. That was also four days ago." He closed the file. "I don't have a picture, because the attacker didn't make an attempt at the current Raikage's life, but Kiri security said that they saw a red-haired girl with glasses outside the village walls." Karin. "Lastly, Suuna sent a report to Konoha saying that the Kazekage was seen in combat with a dark-haired male with only one arm. He held his own but the attacker fled before reinforcements could arrive, but shortly after, Gaara fell into a coma, and has remained in that state since." Sakura took a deep breath. Sasuke. "That was four days ago."
Kakashi sighed and sat back down. "And then two days ago, Naruto's team found a pile of dead bodies waiting for them." He put his hands together and looked straight at his student. "What am I to think?"
Sakura was silent, her mind reluctantly processing everything that she'd heard. Then her mind registered what Kakashi had said. "Hold on," She looked up. "Naruto?"
Shizune, who had been silent the entire time that her boss was talking, finally spoke up. "Naruto was part of the retrieval team. He found the site and sent a report to us immediately. However, to prevent him from acting brashly, Kakashi-sama ordered him to return at once."
Sakura was frozen in thought when realisation hit her. "I have to go home…" She mumbled, stumbling to her feet.
"Sakura, this is a very sensitive matter. You're not supposed to know what Naruto found, so don't-"
"I have to go home!" She all but yelled, before taking off, leaving her sensei in her tail.
Sakura's thoughts were a mess as she flew through the streets of Konoha. She tried to think of something else – anything else – but all she could see was Naruto's bruised and battered form, alone in a puddle of his own blood, leaking from his missing arm. She raced up the stairs to her apartment and slammed the door open to find her husband right there, eating out of an instant ramen cup.
"Whoa there, Sakura-Chan!" He yelped, turning around before seeing the look on her face. "Whoa… Is everything ok?"
"You have to come back," she said, tears gathering in her eyes. "You have to come back now."
"What?" Naruto was confused. "What're you talking about?"
"You didn't have chakra exhaustion," she started, walking into the house and closing the door. "Your chakra levels should have been fine because you weren't in combat. It was a simple retrieval mission." Understanding dawned his eyes as he realised what she was saying.
"Sakura-chan…"
"You never would have listened to Kakashi-sensei's orders without a huge fuss!" She was shouting by now. "You have to come back, Naruto! It's not safe and I need you to come back to me!"
His whiskered cheeks pulled into a painful smile. "Can't do that, Sakura-chan," he said. "This is something that has gone on for too long. Too many people have suffered because of him."
"What about me?!" She cried, tears pouring generously down her cheeks. "I'm allowed to suffer? If you don't come home, I'm gonna go out now and find you!"
"It's too late, Sakura-chan," his voice held such pain. "I'm too far away, I might almost be there."
"Naruto!" She was pleading with him now. "You nearly died last time you fought Sasuke! What if things go south this time?! What if you don't come home?!"
"I'm sorry," he whispered, and he pulled her into a hug. "But if he doesn't come home, Boss wants me to say goodbye. He also wants me to tell you that he loves you very much. Both of you."
She reached up and pulled his head down by his hair, and smashed her lips upon his, giving him a desperately passionate kiss. It was a bittersweet kiss, filled with so much sadness and so much love. Their lips parted and they looked into each other's eyes. "Baka," she choke out. "I love you, please come back."
With that she raised her fist and swung it at his head. He didn't dodge, as she knew he wouldn't, and he did, as she knew he would, disappear in a cloud of smoke. Falling to her knees, Sakura wept into her hands, shaking like never before, feeling her world crumple into dirt.