She took small intakes of air as she finished healing yet again another wounded shinobi, but upon her healing, she noticed the clouds resurfacing over her head and the acrid smoke wither away from the battlefield to reveal her two teammates standing strong as Madara's body dusted away with the wind. All previous Hokages stood tall along the blond fox and the last Uchiha.
"It's our turn to return to our post, Hashirama," stated Toribama as his eyes stormed forward to the Hokage Monument. But Hashirama didn't try to argue with him, he knew it was time to part. He squared his shoulders, linked his hand with Toribama's and Hiruzen's. The Third Hokage offered his hand to Minato and was not surprised when he declined it.
As their souls returned to find peace, Minato smiled underneath his breath and glanced at Naruto watching petals of their dust join the wind.
"I don't want you to go." Naruto muttered, clenching his fists.
Minato placed his palm on Naruto's shoulder, smiling, "I'm not going anywhere,"
"What do yo—"
"I'm going to be here." He pointed towards Naruto's chest.
The blond shinobi blinked away the tears as he latched onto Minato, stuffing his face onto his chest and clutching on to his cloak. Before Minato could return his embrace, his skin was intertwining with the wind, leaving him no time to return the warmth.
"Naruto," he interrupted, "I'll meet you along my side…"
And just like that, Minato's body combusted into grime, leaving Naruto with an additional wound to accompany the others. The blond fox swallowed his sadness with difficulty; he was alone again, but when his cerulean eyes found Sasuke's, he knew he was never alone from the start.
As others took a notice to the empty battlefield – realizing that Madara was defeated, cheering began while every other shinobi clasped onto their comrades with vast grins escaping their lips.
Sakura was unable to prepare the evasion of tears sliding down her cheekbones as she jolted towards her teammates. Naruto and Sasuke, masked with pride in their eyes, walked towards to their pink-haired friend. To the kunoichi's surprise, the weight of Sasuke's shadow was enough for him to drop to his knees.
But before Sasuke collapsed completely, Sakura latched onto his body, arms wrapped around him, her head stuffed into the crook of his neck, letting the tears seep onto his battered shirt.
"Sasuke-kun…"
The raven-haired man twitched at her embrace. His mind drove back to the day where he left the innocent twelve-year old girl on the bench at the entrance of Konoha, reminiscing the tears that fled from her eyes for the man she loved and he wondered if she still did.
She felt the familiar taste of his name again as it escaped her lips, "Sasuke-kun, you're hurt." Soon, her hands were glowing and the last Uchiha felt her warm chakra surge through his body, healing each wound, repairing his wrecked ribs, but he knew she couldn't heal their bond.
His nerves jumped as a crimson flush spread up from under his collar and his ears burned when Sakura was finally facing him, her hands over his chest.
"Can we start again?" She asked, looking away, trying to chew on her lips to stop the quivering.
The raven-haired man couldn't help but smirk. There she was, still the twelve-year old girl he left years ago stuck in a grown-up body, only this time she wasn't declaring her love for him.
Sasuke lifted Sakura's chin to stare into her eyes, leaving Sakura stunned at his response. But that wasn't what got Sakura's blood boiling underneath her skin.
"Thank you." Sasuke said, placing his lips over the diamond seal on her forehead.
I based this prompt off of hallous's ssfanfart entitled, "Can we start again?" (Hence the cover art). Please check out her work! It's truly lovely! I am thankful she gave me permission to write a fic based off of her work.
Oh, and I included some Minato/Naruto father/son moment in here because I figured that is what would happen as soon as the war comes to an end. I would greatly appreciate if you let me know what you think. :)