Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. If I did Naruto and Sakura would have been together from the beginning. Naruto is owned by Kishimoto.
After the Fight: A NaruSaku One-Shot
Sakura ran as fast as she could. Not that long ago, Sakura woke up from the genjutsu that Sasuke put her in immediately asking Kakashi where they went. After finding out that they were at the Valley of the End, Sakura immediately took off toward the Valley of the End in hope of getting there in time to stop Sasuke from killing Naruto not even waiting to see if kakashi was following her or not.
'I was so stupid in thinking that if I told Sasuke that I loved him that he would not try to kill Naruto.' thought a frustrated Sakura. 'All I ended up doing was getting put in a genjutsu of Sasuke killing me and I hurt Naruto when I told Sasuke that I loved him. Damn it! Can I do anything right?'
As she got close to the Valley of the End, she heard a huge explosion and saw a huge sphere of chakra up ahead. When she got to the Valley of the End, she noticed that the sphere of chakra was gone and she looked frantically for Naruto and Sasuke. It didn't take long for her to stop a body lying on the ground in a crater that was probably caused by the sphere of chakra she saw earlier. Running towards the body, she realized who it was.
"NARUTO!" yelled Sakura as she knelt beside him, pulling his head onto her lap. She looked around trying to sense if Sasuke was around and sensed that he left not long before she arrived.
"Naruto stay with me." cried Sakura as she poured what chakra she had left into his wounds to heal him.
As she was healing him, she noticed how badly injured Naruto was and noticed how faint his heart beat was.
'No no no no! I don't have enough chakra to heal him. I don't understand, why isn't Kurama healing Naruto?' thought Sakura.
"DAMMIT! I can't run out of chakra now, common Naruto hang in there!" cried Sakura in frustration and worry as the green healing chakra dimmed and flickered before disappearing completely.
Luckily, she had managed to stop the bleeding before she ran out of chakra, but it still wasn't enough to save him as she noticed his heart beat get fainter and fainter.
'NO! I can't lose him! Not again!' thought Sakura as she had a flashback to when Naruto nearly died after Kurama was extracted from him and of her crying, begging Naruto not to die as she cut into his side and grasped his heart in her hand as she manually pumped his heart with her hand as she gave him CPR.
Coming out of that flashback, Sakura set Naruto's head back on the ground carefully as she forced whatever chakra she had left and cut into Naruto's side, just like she did before, and grasped his heart in her hand and manually pumped his heart. She then, with her other hand, tilted Naruto's head back and lowered her face to his and bringing their lips together to blow air in his lungs to keep him alive.
Sakura did this for a while, but unfortunately, nothing changed. Sakura stopped what she was doing, releasing her hold on Naruto's heart and taking her hand out of his side and brought his head back onto her lap as tears poured down her face.
"Naruto." said Sakura softly as she just stared at the lifeless Naruto as her tears fell onto his face and onto the ground.
By this time, Kakashi finally showed up and when he saw what transpired and saw that Sakura was crying over a lifeless Naruto, Kakashi didn't say a word as he looked up at the sky and sighed.
'Minato-Sensei, Kushina, I failed you.' thought Kakashi.
Meanwhile, Sakura was just staring at Naruto as she had flashbacks of all the times that they had been together and it pained her heart to know that Naruto would no longer be in her life anymore. She realized that when Naruto died, a part of her died along with him.
What was she going to do now? Her life would never be the same without Naruto in it. Not to mention that Sasuke was still out there somewhere and not to mention the fact that they still have to free those that are still trapped in the Infinite Tsukiyomi.
All of a sudden she felt a hand on her cheek causing her to break out of her thoughts and stare down to where the hand belong to only to gasp in surprise. When she looked down, she was greeted by a pair of warm sapphire eyes staring back at her and a foxlike smile on his face.
Seeing Naruto alive causing Sakura burst into tears of happiness as smile appeared on her face before she bent over and hugged Naruto crying even harder than she was before.
"Naruto! You're alive! Please don't leave me again. I don't think my heart can take it any longer." said a teary eyed Sakura as she sniffed a couple of times.
Naruto continued to smile as he returned the hug as best as he could.
A few minutes later, they broke the hug and as Naruto looked at Sakura, he could not stop himself from saying, "You have a cute and charming forehead. Makes me want to kiss it."
Sakura's eyes widen as something in her mind clicked as she realized that what Naruto said was the exact same thing that Sasuke said all those years ago. Come to think of it, why had Sasuke compliment her forehead and almost kiss her one minute and then call her "annoying" the next. Come to think of it, she had based her whole 'love' of Sasuke on that memory.
'I am so stupid! All this time I had been chasing after Sasuke when I should have been chasing after Naruto." thought a frustrated Sakura. 'I mean, I love Naruto and Sasuke. But now that I found out that my so called 'love' for Sasuke wasn't real, I can finally move on and be with someone who loves me for me. But, does Naruto still love me?'
Looking back towards Sakura and Naruto, Kakashi saw that Naruto was still alive and smiled, happy to know that Naruto was still alive.
"Sorry to make you worry like that Sakura-chan, but don't worry, I am not going anywhere. After all, my dream is to be the Hokage so I can't die yet." replied Naruto, snapping Sakura from her thoughts as he tried to sit up from Sakura's lap with her still clinging onto him only to grit his teeth in pain.
"Naruto! Don't move you're still injured!" stated a worried Sakura as she carefully laid Naruto's head back onto her lap.
"But Sakura-chan, we need to free everyone who is trapped in the Infinite Tsukiyomi. Not to mention I need to keep my promise to you on bringing Sasuke back because I know you love him and I also need to stop him from fulfilling his plan for a 'Revolution' as he put it." replied Naruto as he tried to get up again.
"Naruto, don't worry. We will free everyone from the Infinite Tsukiyomi, but you need to stop this promise about bringing Sasuke back to me. All this promise has done has nearly gotten you killed numerous times and my heart can't take you going through all of that again. So please, stop chasing Sasuke for me, we will deal with him when the time comes, together, okay." said Sakura making sure to make an emphasis on together.
"But you love Sasuke don't you? I mean I heard you confess your love for him right before he put you in a genjutsu Sakura-chan. Don't you want to be with the one you love?" asked a confused Naruto.
"No Naruto. I don't love Sasuke. I've realized that I really never did to be quite frank. My so called 'love' for him was a figment of my imagination created by you when you disguised yourself as Sasuke on the day of team placements." answered Sakura.
Naruto widened his eyes in shock at what Sakura told him.
"What are you saying Sakura-chan?" asked a shocked and confused Naruto.
"What I'm saying, baka, is this." answered Sakura before closing her eyes as she captured Naruto's lips with her own, giving him her first real kiss, pouring all of her love, warmth, and care into it.
At first, Naruto did not respond. He was too shocked by the fact that Sakura, the girl of his dreams was kissing her. However, he finally relaxed enough to return the kiss letting his long denied desire for her to take over. The kiss only lasted for a moment, but to Naruto, it felt as if all time stood. Before he knew it, the kiss was over. She had opened her eyes and was looking into the deep blue of his eyes.
"I love you Naruto-kun." said Sakura as she smiled loving at him using the suffix 'kun' in his name for the first time, bringing a huge smile on Naruto's face.
"I love you too Sakura-chan." replied Naruto with a smile of his own on his face.
They were broken out of the heartwarming moment by the voice of Kakashi.
"As happy as I am that the two of you are now together. I believe we need to free the others from the Infinite Tsukiyomi." said Kakashi.
"Right, it's time to free everyone." said Naruto as he stood up with the help of Sakura as his wounds finally healed.
Once Naruto was up, the three of them headed back to where they fought Madara Uchiha as well as where all the tailed beasts were. As they thought of a way to free everyone from the Infinite Tsukiyomi without the help of Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura knew that they would face any challenge together.
The End.
This is a one-shot based on what I believe might happen after manga chapter 695. I can't believe that Naruto is ending in a few weeks. Just four more chapters left followed by Naruto: the Last Movie after that. I know that everyone was hoping for an update to 'Back to the Past' but don't worry. I am halfway through chapter four and once I finish it, I will post it the next time I am on the Internet. Please Read and Review and give me your thoughts on this one-shot and also what you want to see in 'Back to the Past.' Who knows, your suggestions might make it into the story, but you must review for it to happen. Also, give me your thoughts on Naruto ending and what you want to see how it ends as well as what might happen in the Naruto: the Last Movie. Remember Read & Review!
Joshu93, Later.