The heat of the battle finally drew to a close as the dust settled on the war fields. Ninjas from all areas of the nations panted heavily, death and destruction both littered the ground along with the bodies of fallen comrades. Sasuke and Naruto had done it; they defied the odds and managed to beat Madara with all of his tricks and jutsus. Naruto stood with blood dripping from his clothing and fists but nothing short of a small smile was plastered on his face. It was finally over, the ninja world could finally live in peace and now they could live among each other. Brought together by a common enemy, the Shinobi Alliance was one that would stand strong for years to come. Naruto knew that his contribution and the contribution of his friends would not soon be forgotten and the lives lost that day and the days before would not disappear into the soil of the past.

"Naruto?" a timid feminine voice called out just behind him. He turned to see his pink haired companion Sakura who was kneeling on the ground exhausted.

"Are you ok Sakura?" he asked turning towards her. The wind carried his robe gently, a reminder that the world was silent. No one cheered on this victory, at least not out loud, not yet. Sakura nodded and smiled up at her blond haired companion. She rose to her feet and took his hand in hers summoning the smallest amount of chakra in order to heal his minor cuts. His weary eyes looked at her, his small smile drawing to a larger one. He knew it was up to him to rally positive emotions among the Shinobi. He put his free hand over hers which clasped onto his other and reassured her silently. She nodded and released his hand. Naruto walked past her and to the rest of his comrades, his teachers, his friends, his family.

Sasuke watched the exchange and let out a scoff of air. He approached Sakura with his eyes closed. He could still vividly remember the last real exchange he had with her: the night he left. Sakura was the only person that Sasuke had ever acknowledged and even thanked for her concern. He would never voice it, but this was a factor in deciding to come back to the Leaf.

"Sakura."

She looked at him and without noticing it was holding her breath. She could hear her heart beating, pounding, screaming at her. She wondered if she had proved her strength in battle to Sasuke or if she had just proven to be the same old nuisance that she used to be. She looked up and straight into his deep black eyes.

"Sasuke..?" she timidly replied.

He looked her straight in her emerald eyes and allowed the silence to draw out between them. He lifted his hand and used the back of his fingers to stroke the blood off of her cheek. Her mouth hung open slightly, her lip quivering. He closed his eyes for a brief second as if in a moment of thought. With a quick breath he leaned in to place a quick kiss on her lips. But instead of the intended kiss, his lips ghosted over hers as she drew back from his movement. He looked at her sternly and she could see the slightly twinge of hurt in his eyes.

"Sasuke…I…" she swallowed the lump in her throat and couldn't help but dart her eyes for a moment to the side and then down at the ground. It was already too late though, he could tell she wanted to look back at Naruto, who was currently being pat on the back by his father and Kakashi. "It's just that…this whole thing has made me realize that the chance I had been wanting from you had been offered to me all along…just…closer than I thought." She stammered looking back up at him apologetically.

"Hmph." Sasuke grunted. "So the annoying kid managed to beat me even now." He said closing his eyes with a slanted frown. Without saying another word to her he turned away to go back to his little group of misfits and a particularly jealous Karin who was on the verge of tears. She didn't know if she should be crying that Sasuke just tried to kiss another woman, if she should be in a rage that someone actually had the audacity to reject him, or if she should be delighted that Sakura would no longer interfere with her desires. Sakura watched him walk away just as she had many times before but this time she smiled knowing he would still be with the village.

Karin realized it would take a lot of chiseling but her new life ambition would be to have as many of Sasuke's babies in order to help him rebuild a clan. Not even he knew it yet, but in years to come he would consider it just another competition between him and Naruto on who would have the better offspring worthy of following the path of a Hokage. Little did he realize though the sweet irony of Karin's Uzumaki linage which would end up brewing together with the Uchiha line. It would take a few talks and a couple of ramen dates but Sakura would return with Naruto to the Leaf to eventually convince him of her realized love. She in fact had loved him all along, but Sasuke's return clouded her ability to fully commit to him until now.

Ok so I know that was silly but I totally want to make a note that I wrote this on the release of the Naruto manga 675 and kind of wanted to do a "I called it" short story note for my personal files. This is basically how I hope the romance aspect of the manga will end. My theory is that Sasuke and Karin will go rebuild the Uchiha clan with tons of babies in a "I'm using you" type of relationship that Karin won't even care about, and that Sakura will realize her love for Naruto finally allowing herself to release the feelings she had held onto for so long. Because of all of this Sasuke will once again lose to Naruto in another thing and live his life trying to make the best babies he can. Haha. That's my hopeful perfect ending to the love parts of Naruto. It's all my opinion, I love all the different couples and I deeply apologize if it conflicts with your ideas or couples, but it's what I hope for. Anything could happen! I hope you enjoyed my little story, I plan to write actual romances and lemons in the future so stay tuned!

-Red