Together
by: Karasu Kyra
Orochimaru had just whispered of treason-once-more in his ear. Sasuke Uchiha didn't even have to deliberate. He already knew. He would not leave his teammates again.
"Not again," said Sasuke. "Not again."
Orochimaru hissed out a laugh. "You left them once. What could be so difficult now?"
"Now? Now I have no motivation to. What do you have left to offer me?"
"Power."
"I need no more power."
At this, the Sannin growled, stepping closer. "Then I will kill all three of you!"
"That's fine," Naruto said and smiled.
Sakura nodded in agreement. "We trained together."
"We fought together." Sasuke's lips twitched in amusement.
"And now," finished Naruto,"we'll die together."
The dark-haired man continued, slipping an arm around each of his teammates shoulders, "And that's okay, because we're together."
"That's it? Just that simple bond to your teammates? What could be so great of that? I left mine and look at me now!"
"Yeah," snorted the blonde, "you're a pathetic excuse for a human."
"It is our bond, that made me strong in the first place, not you." The Uchiha smirked as Orochimaru growled once more.
Orochimaru asked, "And how is that?"
"If Naruto got stronger, I had to get stronger. If Naruto got closer to Sakura, I had to get closer."
Orochimaru could no longer wait for them to finish speaking. He lunged forward and killed all three. Just a swipe of the sword and thier existence was no longer. He grinned triumphantly. "See what bonds get you?"
0o0o0o0
Two months later, on the memorial stone were carved three more names. Team Seven - Kakashi Hatake, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno
Even in death, their memory was of them together.
Tsunade sighed and laid her world-weary head against the stone. Her greying blonde hair fluttered in a sudden breeze.
The wind blew, almost a soft caress of the stone. The clouds parted just right, just so that a beam of the sun's light struck it. Birds chirruped, squirrels played and life continued on without four of the world's greatest people.