Naruto Shippuden: Swan Song

Chapter One:

Origins

The rain was pouring down hard, the sound of thunder roared throughout the mountainscape that day. The once Uchiha hideout was now demolished to nothing but ruble. Black flames were still burning, incinerating the forest and its wildlife. Even though the weather was miserable as miserable can get, two ninja were even more miserable. The blond haired ninja was kneeled down on the cold damp ground with extreme agony, but no tears were shed. While the pink haired ninja took her distance away from the blond while her tears streamed away from her bloodshot eyes. Why were these two in extreme pain and despair? First we must know these two in order to know that. The blond haired one's name is Naruto; son of the 4th hokage Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. He grew up without parents however by his father sacrificing his life during the Kyuubi attack 16 years ago and his mother's whereabouts is still unknown but presumed to be dead. His dad defeated the nine tailed fox, but did not kill it. In order for this to never happen again, his dad agreed his newborn child, Naruto, to be the vessel of this vile beast. It may seem cruel and inhuman, but his father did it to not punish the boy, he wanted his son to grow up and being even stronger than him one day. And his dad's final wish was to not view his son as a monster, but as a noble hero. He died right afterwards, and the 3rd Hokage came out of retirement and took his place as Hokage. The 3rd Hokage's first decree was to not speak to Naruto about him being the vessel of the Kyuubi, and the villagers agreed. But due to human nature, they naturally viewed Naruto as a monster that deserved to be beaten.

And for the next 12 years the villagers have constantly beaten Naruto for this reason, but the villagers didn't tell him about he being the container of the Kyuubi. Naruto masked his pain by playing pranks and getting into trouble. One fateful day, after Naruto failed the 4th time in order to be promoted to genin, a man named Mizuki told Naruto about a scroll containing a forbidden jutsu called Multi shadow clone Jutsu. Naruto did just that and stole the scroll. The 3rd Hokage issued a search in order to find Naruto and the scroll. Naruto's teacher, Iruka, found him first. Iruka was trying to figure out why Naruto done this, when Naruto told him about Mizuki; Iruka realized it wasn't Naruto's fault. But then Mizuki came and tried to kill Naruto, but at the last minute Iruka pushed Naruto out of the way and took the hit. Mizuki then revealed that Naruto was the vessel of the monster that attacked the village those many years ago. Naruto's world turned upside down at that moment, Naruto finally realized the reason why the villagers hated him and viewed him as a monster. Then Iruka told Mizuki out that Naruto is not a monster, but a ninja of the hidden leaf village. At that moment, Naruto experienced care, and a new bond was forged. When Mizuki was going to kill Iruka, Naruto defended him and put his newly learned Jutsu to use. He produced a 1,000 clones and easily defeated Mizuki. Iruka was astonished at Naruto mustered up; it took an unprecedented amount of chakra to produce full flesh shadow clones. He decided to graduate Naruto and promote him to genin.

After that, a series of events happened to Naruto that tested not only his physical strength but also his mental strength. Naruto only had one dream, to be Hokage. He wanted to be respected and praised by the villagers as champion of their village. One of those events Naruto encountered was a person that was the same as him, it made Naruto think about how lucky he was that he has bonds and people that cared about him. Gaara was the name; he was threating to kill one of those bonds that Naruto fought so hard for; he had to save her, he needed to save Sakura. Sakura is the one with the pink hair and one of his teammates, and his crush. She didn't cared for Naruto much because she spent most of her time daydreaming about another teammate of Naruto's team; the person's name was Sasuke. Naruto didn't understand why she liked him so much. But Naruto can relate to Sakura, the girl wanted to be recognized. Naruto wanted to do the same thing, to be noticed. Naruto had to be quick as every second passed; Sakura's life was diminishing. Naruto had to use everything he had ever learned and put it to the ultimate test. Naruto defeated Gaara and saved Sakura's life. Naruto didn't expect anything in return for saving Sakura's life. Sakura didn't know that it was Naruto who saved her; she thought it was Sasuke who saved her. It was Sasuke himself who told her it was Naruto that saved her life. That was the moment that she started to respect Naruto, and was eternally grateful for Naruto's noble action.

Naruto's new mentor; Jirayia took Naruto to go search for a replacement for the now deceased 3rd Hokage. Sasuke had only one objective in his life; to avenge his clan and kill the person who slain his clan; his brother Itachi. When Sasuke learns that Itachi was near, he immediately ran after him and ultimately found him with Naruto. Sasuke lost utterly and was put into a coma. Naruto learned that a group called the Akatsuki was after him, and Itachi was part of that group. Jirayia was searching for an old teammate and a candidate for Hokage; that person's name was Tsunade. Jirayia, Tsunade, and a snake-like monster named Orochimaru were a team back then and the 3 legendary Sanin. Tsunade was a medic-nin wizard; she was the grand daughter of the 1st Hokage. After Naruto and Jirayia returned with Tsunade, Sasuke was still in a coma. Thanks to Tsunade's medical experience, she awoke Sasuke from it. Sakura was so glad that Sasuke was all right. She embraced him; it somehow hurt Naruto to see her embracing Sasuke. After the fight with Itachi; it devastated Sasuke's confidence in his strength; Sasuke made a decision about that; his choice was to leave the village. When Sasuke was about to leave, Sakura tried to stop him from going; she even said that she loved him. It made no difference however; Sasuke knocked her out and left. Immediately in the morning; Tsunade sent out a team to go get him. Naruto was part of that team.

When he was about to leave; Sakura appeared. Sakura wished that Naruto would bring him back. This seemed like the ultimate blow to Naruto, he knew that it wasn't possible for him to receive the same feelings he has for her. Naruto then made a noble promise that he will bring him back home even if it kills him. It was his lifetime promise to her. Naruto ultimately lost him, he couldn't bring him home. Naruto failed her, but Sakura wasn't mad at him. She forgave him, and she promised him that next time they will do it together. Naruto soon after left with Jirayia, and went to train for two and a half years. Sakura wanted to become stronger, and requested that she can train with Tsunade. Tsunade gladly accepted and took her in as her apprentice.

For 2 and a half years, the two ninja trained hard and long, eagerly waiting to see each other again. Then finally at last, they finally reunited. They were older, wiser, well Naruto was somewhat wiser, and stronger. They were happy, and even though they were apart for quite some time, their bond grew stronger and it deepened. It was almost the same before they left 2 and a half years ago, it was like nothing had happened. Naruto still cared deeply about Sakura, but… Sakura's feelings changed. She viewed as being a really good friend, best friend at least. But new feelings emerged, feelings that she never thought she would never have for the blond haired ninja. But she kept these feelings in check, but sometimes some of the feelings came out, and luckily for Sakura, Naruto couldn't read romantic feelings to save his life. But one thing is for sure, Naruto and Sakura still wanted to bring Sasuke back. And a little later; for 2 and a half years; the two finally met the raven-haired ninja, still cold and emotionless. But now Sasuke dedicated his whole life in the pursuit of killing his older brother, and if anybody were to get in the way of that goal, he will not holdback, and will kill. And his old teammates were no different, he attempted to kill the 2, but thanks to the help of their new captain; Yamato, and their new teammate; Sai, they fend off Sasuke, and Sasuke left. Naruto and Sakura failed again.

But they were not discouraged,

Some time afterwards another opportunity opened…

And that's where we are now.

The rain started to lessen, and the dark ominous clouds began to disburse. Naruto got up from the moist ground and stared at Sakura. She was still in pain, the tears stopped and her eyes were still bloodshot. Naruto knew how much she cares for him; it killed him to see her like this.

'She probably doesn't want to even see me.' Naruto tried to walk up to her, but he hesitated and walked away from her. Kakashi; their sensei, looked at the blond with unknowingness of the situation, but at the same time knew what was going on.

Naruto, and the other 6 ninja left the ruble and began the long journey home.

-End of Chapter 1-