Author Note: just a story I wrote for fun after being disappointed by Naruto's so-called end. It takes place in the moment after the goddess whose name I forgot was defeated, when Sasuke says he wants to be a bad guy so all the countries can become allies. (Btw, I have to say that's quite an original idea. But the way he put it, it sounded quite naïve). Anyway, they're both about to lose their arms when Kakashi arrives.
Kakashi saw them fighting the way they had four years before. Only this time, stopping them from killing each other by just grabbing their wrists wasn't possible. He had to kill one of them and he had to do it right away. It had to be Sasuke. He hated it, because he had always cared for Sasuke. They had a lot in common. But he was the traitor, the one who'd run away, so over Naruto, it had to be him.
Kakashi used his Chidori one last time, and his hand pierced through Sasuke's body, taking his heart away.
"No!" Naruto screamed.
Kakashi pulled his hand away, letting Sasuke fall on the ground. Naruto ran to his side and kneeled next to him.
"Why? Why'd you do it? Why didn't you let him live?"
"It would've killed you both. Sasuke was going insane, Naruto. Insane with his will for revenge. There was no going back for him. You've heard him say it himself countless time. He was suffering. He should've died long ago."
"But why him, why?" Naruto's body was now shaking, and tears were running down his eyes. He started to hyperventilate and fell to the ground. "Why?" he said one more time. Then, he lost consciousness.
A man arrived.
Kakashi told him, "Take this boy and bring him to the village so he can be buried. I'm taking the other one to the hospital."
Kakashi was sitting at a bar, drinking sake. Maybe I could've saved them both. Maybe Sasuke didn't have to die. I think I shouldn't have interfered at all.
"Kakashi," Tsunade called him. "Mind if I sit with you."
"Have a seat."
"I've got bad news," Tsunade said.
"Go ahead. Don't try to spare me."
"Naruto ran away from the hospital and was found dead, his wrists sliced open."
No one spoke.
Then Kakashi spoke with an emotion even he couldn't describe. A mix of anger, cynicism, and grief. He said, "Jiraiya was one hell of a bastard, wasn't he?"
Tsunade smiled sadly.
"Hope. As if such a thing exists," Kakashi said.
"People can only hope there'll be hope, uh?"
Kakashi nodded. He was doing all he could to feel indifferent, and he probably was, but there was a part of him thinking that Naruto was dead. That the boy who saved so many lives and brought back peace when it was the least expected was dead. That the most joyful boy was dead of suicide. Death could be one hell of an ironic bastard.
But why did he care about Naruto's death?
All in all he was just another corpse in the war.
Author Note: If you didn't get it, the last line is a reference to Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall.
And about the irony in Naruto's death, I think it comes from the feeling I get when I think that John Lennon was shot dead. That the man who once sang "Imagine there's nothing to die or kill for" got killed. R.I.P. John Lennon.