Blame plot bunnies. Evil, evil bunnies.
Resurrection
I
Grave of the Hero
Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop.
Dark crimson liquid seeped through the severe wounds marring his tanned skin, staining the last shreds of his dull orange outfit, the stray droplets falling to the ground and blooming into small puddles of blood. Soft, ragged, uneven breathing split the deafening silence as a bruised, battered and nearly dead shinobi, with sun-kissed blonde hair clumped together in thick clusters of dried blood, stumbled tiredly down the worn, weather-beaten dirt path in the direction of Konoha, seeking the familiar wooden gates while carrying an unconscious, half-dead brunet draped limply across his back, the shinobi's pale, floppy arms hanging down below his shoulders.
Just . . . a little . . . bit more . . .
A small, desperate thought cycled through the blonde's head. His vision was blurring from extreme blood loss, and he was unable to heal due to all the chakra he had used up in the terrible battle against his best friend in the Valley of End. Even if he made it to the village, he knew he wouldn't live. His wounds were too great; so great that he knew for a fact that he wouldn't live to see tomorrow.
Just for Sakura . . . and Konoha . . .
She was the only thing that kept him from collapsing. To make his teammate happy, he'd bring his traitorous best friend back, even if it killed him. But when he died, would she cry? Would she wish that she'd never asked him to bring her crush back? Or would she spit defiantly on his grave, saying that he risked his worthless life for nothing? The very thought was depressing, but he pressed on, defying death's cold clutches once more.
Just for this bastard . . . I'll bring him back . . .
Yes, just for the sake of his friends and his beloved village . . . he would bring Sasuke back. But his resolve was slowly crumbling and he knew it. He could already feel the strength leaving his limbs. His knees were trembling in an effort to hold him up and now they were starting to buckle. But he kept going, forcing his body to move.
I can't . . . fight back anymore . . .
At long last, the huge Konoha gates came into view. The battered blonde shinobi heaved a great sigh of relief. He staggered towards them, taking several steps that he knew were his final, and promptly collapsed in front of the gates, his vision going black and his world blurring into nothing.
The Chuunin guards at the gate saw him from afar, but instead of hurrying to help him, their eyes darkened in hatred. "Filthy demon," one of them sneered, getting up from behind the counter to wrench the Uchiha from the demon's evil grasp.
The other guard kicked the jinchuuriki in the side and spat, "You little fucker, who the hell gave you permission to touch the Uchiha?!"
The first Chuunin suggested, "Shove a kunai down the demon's throat. No one will notice and we'll be heroes for freeing this village of his wretched existence!"
The other Chuunin shook his head and said, "No, I won't stick a kunai down his throat. I'll shove it into his heart! That'll teach the fucker –"
"One more word about him and you'll find yourself hanging from the roof of your house stripped down to your under garments with explosive tags placed on your body," a deadly cold voice spoke from behind them, causing them to freeze in their tracks in fear.
The Chuunins' hearts sped up. The Hokage was behind them. She had heard everything and the Chuunins both knew that she cared deeply for the demon very much.
Tsunade strode forward briskly, her hazel eyes flashing angrily. She roughly dislodged Sasuke from the first Chuunin's grip and slammed him into the ground.
She then gripped him by the front of his dark-blue, high-collar shirt and shook him. "Damn it, I wish you were awake!" she screamed at him, shaking him like a flaccid toy doll.
"Hokage-sama, stop! You know how fragile the Uchiha is, especially when he's unconscious! You must not –"
The Chuunin was cut off when Tsunade yelled at him, "You can't tell me what to do! Because of this stupid idiot, Naruto's dying!"
The Hokage rushed to Naruto's side, gently cradling his head as she prayed that he would live. Don't die on me, Naruto, she thought silently.
It wasn't until two hours later that Sakura and Kakashi heard the terrible news. They came running immediately to the front gates, but stopped in their tracks when they saw the gruesome and bloody sight. Tsunade was crying as she held Naruto close to her heart. His wounds just wouldn't heal, no matter what she tried.
Sakura paled horribly when she saw the numerous injuries her dying fellow shinobi sported. "Naruto . . ." she whispered weakly, slumping to the ground on her knees, burying her face into her hands and letting loose a loud sob.
Kakashi's head bowed in sorrow, knowing that his student's time was at an end. He failed his student, and failed miserably. I'm sorry, Naruto. I should've taught you better. I have failed you as a sensei.
Within the dank recesses of Naruto's mind, aforementioned shinobi stood ankle-deep in the sewage water, staring at the great, nine-tailed beast beyond the bars. He cracked a small smile at the demon, with whom he had become friends with, and said softly, "I guess this is the end, Kyuubi."
The great beast bowed his furry head to his jailor. "It has been an interesting experience sealed within you," Kyuubi rumbled.
Naruto laughed. He turned around to look at the dark hellhole of blackness slithering towards them. "Kyuubi . . . I want to say goodbye."
At those words Kyuubi released his energy to ward off the shadows from creeping closer. "Go, now!" he ordered.
Under intense pressure, the sewer began to crack. Naruto closed his eyes and whisked himself to faint consciousness. His dull blue eyes cracked open and gazed into Sakura and Tsunade's crying faces.
The Godaime sobbed when he opened his eyes and hugged him tightly. "You're alive," she sniffled. "Don't leave me please . . ."
His lips twitched. ". . .Sorry, baa-chan," he rasped, his eyes beginning to cloud over. "I . . . I have to go."
"No, Naruto!" Tsunade said, denying the fact that Naruto was likely to die.
"I'm sorry . . ." one of Naruto's hands gripped Tsunade's tightly in a reassuring gesture. He looked at Sakura and smiled. "Goodbye."
And his once-brilliant sapphire eyes closed for the last time, embracing the eternal darkness of death. His chest stopped rising and Tsunade was terrified to find that he no longer had a pulsing heartbeat. Uzumaki Naruto, the only ninja sane enough to wear a glaring orange jump suit, was dead.
Tsunade's hazel eyes watered and she let out a heart-broken scream that made everyone in the near vicinity, including the demon haters, to flinch. Sakura stared down at the ground, suddenly wishing that she could reverse all the harsh actions and words she had directed at him. Kakashi sighed and turned away, guilt eating at him from the inside, the image of Naruto lying there in Tsunade's lap dead scarring his mind forever. Just like his father's suicide had, just like Obito's death had . . . and just like Yondaime's sacrifice had.
The next morning all the shinobi who did not hate Naruto or see him as "the demon" attended his funeral. All his friends were either crying or just hugging themselves in despair. When Gaara had received news not long after Naruto died, he and his siblings had immediately come to Konoha after rescuing the others. Gaara wanted to kill the Uchiha for killing the only person who could understand him, but he did not. "Living with his death should be enough," he had spoken, his sand picking the unconscious boy up and throwing him into a building.
Hinata took this the hardest. Her crush was dead, and it was because he had gone to save his best friend turned traitor. Kiba, despite his injuries, comforted his teammate and let her cry into his jacket.
Sakura was last to place something on Naruto's coffin. It was a small song that she thought would fit on this day:
These thousand tears we cry,
Rivers of blood mixed with tears,
Sown with seeds of death and fears,
Flowing into nothing here.
Every wicked thing we've known
Is washed away from me now,
Sins purge bloodlust akin to fear,
Lost was the one who loved.
This union make us be freed,
Fly far away, of sky and now of heart,
These thousand sins we see,
Blood runs down steel knives,
Your life, my life,
It is gone.
Fly away, fly far, far away
And be free.
--Haruno Sakura--
She stepped back, whispering, "Goodbye, Naruto. I'm sorry too."
They gazed at the black-clad coffin, their solemn looks and doleful faces mirroring their emotions inside. Tsunade prayed for the shinobi's safe journey in death and stepped into the sea of black.
"Goodbye, Uzumaki Naruto."
A week later Sasuke woke up in the hospital. He wasn't surprised to see Sakura by his bedside, but what she did when he awoke shocked him to the core.
SLAP!
"Why did you have to kill him?!" she screamed, slapping him again. She then slid to the floor and began to cry. "Why did you have to kill him?"
Sasuke froze, his onyx eyes glancing blankly up at the white ceiling above him. Dead? he thought. No, he can't be . . . I couldn't have . . . He took one look at the sobbing mess and suddenly felt an enormous pang of guilt well up inside of him. Oh my God. I killed Naruto. Now he felt like crying too.
I killed the person I loved . . .
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