The wind was picking up and it was starting to rain harder as Naruto and Sakura came to the Valley of the End. It was here that Sasuke had slipped through their fingers and into the grasp of Orochimaru. Now, together, they had tracked him down after he and Team Hawk attacked the still heavily damaged Konoha, mere weeks after Pain's attack.
The two paused to catch their breaths near the edge of the massive waterfall. They had a perfect view of the damage that remained after their last confrontation there and the sight brought old images back into focus.

Sakura saw the look of pain that washed over Naruto's face and tried to cheer him up.

"Now that Akatsuki is all but gone, and Madara's gone back into hiding, maybe you'll finally get your wish of being Hokage."

At his confused expression, she elaborated. "Well you did almost single handedly defeat an enemy capable of wiping out an entire ninja village! Everybody's been talking about you. Don't think nobody has noticed how much work you've put into repairing the village. You always seem to cheer people up when you're around"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "I'm just being my normal goofy self."

The pinkette smiled. "Well people have really grown to like it. We'll have to work on getting your Hokage robes fitted when we get back."

Now Naruto smiled, but then something caught his attention in the corner of his eye.

From the other side of the river, a thin blue bolt of lightning shot straight at the pair, angling for the pair.

The two tried to dodge, but they were caught off guard and reacted too slowly.

Time seemed to slow as Naruto watched the lightning bolt race towards them. Sakura tried to dive out of the way, towards Naruto, but she wasn't fast enough.

Directly infront of his eyes, the bolt shot though Sakura's chest and she collapsed like a puppet into Naruto's arms. He caught her body out of reflex, his mind in shock even though he hadn't been hit by the electrical attack.

Then from across the river, from the top of the statue of Madara Uchiha, a voice called out.

"Yo, dobe. Still alive?"

Standing there was Sasuke Uchiha himself.