Heyo, got some sadness to punch you in the chest. Here ya go.
I don't own Naruto.
She was tired.
She couldn't go on anymore. She couldn't do it.
She went back like they asked. She slaughtered the man on the moon, she hunted down every one of those white skinned horned freaks and she erased them.
Now that future would never come about. The only thing to worry about was the mad man that eluded death, waiting. But he could be handled by the ones born to fight him. That despicable plant monster could be handled just the same. She didn't have to do it anymore. She could lay down here and just sleep and know that the people who had not yet been born, would be the ones to save the world. They would never know about the man on the moon. Never know about the people who harvested that forbidden fruit high above the clouds. That clan was gone. She'd come back, her sole purpose to kill them, the ones truly capable of destroying the shinobi world.
She'd done that. She'd done it and she just wanted to rest.
But those ghosts, the same ones who followed her everywhere, still they whispered to her.
"It's over…" She rasped, right cheek resting in the dirt.
The moon was high, the violet sky quiet and cloudy during the twilight as she lay, battered and bloody in a clearing surrounded by trees. Well, the clearing had become a crater when she'd crashed into it, lit up with powerful golden chakra that kept her from incinerating as she fell from the very sky above. She'd fallen a long way, much like a meteorite, and honestly even being who she was, she was surprised to have still been breathing.
"It's over." She said again.
"It's not." The pink ghost huffed. "He's still here. If you don't do something, he'll cast Infinite Tsukuyomi."
She blinked, the taste of copper thick in her mouth, staining her teeth as she bared them in something akin to a grin.
"I got who mattered." She muttered, red oozing through her teeth. "He's not gonna win. He didn't before."
"Why would you even let the war happen?" The silver ghost chimed in, a lazy drawl. "You're here now. Better to just take care of it. You've already altered things, you have to make sure you've altered them for the best."
"I'm tired." She whined, eyes blurring. "I want to sleep. That's all I want. Can I have it, please?"
"Stop complaining." The black ghost intoned. "Get up. It isn't over yet."
She wanted to shake her head but she felt faint, and the air was cold. She knew if she just went to sleep, that she'd never have to worry about being cold, or about feeling faint, or about the old mad man with selfish dreams.
He wasn't her problem. He could be defeated if they tried hard enough.
"Don't you let it happen." The pink ghost hissed. "Get up. It was hard before, you don't know for sure the people here will win. Before he lost because he was betrayed, not because of anything that the alliance did."
"Get rid of him." The silver one bargained. "Get rid of that man, and then you can sleep."
"The plant thing too." The black ghost reminded. "Don't let him awaken his mother. You took care of the other ones, but there's still her. Do not let her wake up."
Her eyelids grew heavier, and the exhausted tears welling up spilled down her bruised and bloodied face, parting a path through the grime as a wretched sob tore from somewhere deep inside her.
"I'm so tired. I'm tired." She whimpered.
"Just a little more." The pink ghost soothed, kneeling at her side. "A little more and you can sleep."
"So get up." The silver one said, eyes following the print in his little orange book. "Just a little more."
"Just a little more." The black one promised, nodding once.
She sobbed as her arms moved slowly, weighed down by invisible boulders, nails sinking into the earth as she pushed herself up, trembling.
Her tears speckled the earth, and the copper in her mouth fell to join them. Her sobs broke into a coughing fit, rattling her scorched lungs.
"Just a little more." Her ghosts whispered. "Come on. Just a little more, Naruto."
Weak, bloodied, and tired deep in her bones, Naruto stood up.
She shambled out of her crater, the place that had cradled her, the place she had been willing to let lull her into eternal slumber. The voices of her ghosts urged her on with promises of rest. But first she had to go.
"Keep going." The pink ghost said when she stumbled.
So she shambled on.
"Don't stop." The silver one murmured when she collapsed.
So she got up again.
"Keep walking." The black one whispered when she coughed up blood.
And she did.
With every step she lost a little bit to her wounds, but she kept going, a near corpse as she dragged herself on.
"Just a little more." She found herself murmuring, when her ghosts returned to the memories inside of her.
She could barely see through the tears, and could smell nothing but her own blood.
Naruto was so very tired, but it wasn't quite done. When she was done, she'd dig her own hole and lay in it. She didn't care if she wasn't covered. She would lay in it, and she would sleep.
But not yet.
"Just a little more."