Notes: This is my own end to Naruto. Because since Kaguya's defeat, things went steadily downhill, and that hill's name is Sasuke. So, for this story, I'm going to firmly pretend that the manga stopped after chapter 693, shortly after Sakura was placed under Sasuke's genjutsu. And also that the genjutsu lasted much longer than ten minutes. Because if you're jerk enough to try and kill two girls who love you, you're certainly jerk enough to trap one in a dream state for a while. Which, I must emphasize, would still be kinder than giving her a kid of questionable parentage, but I will not be digging into that can of worms this time around. And if that left a bad taste in your mouth rather than amused you, probably you should stop reading here.
Project U
A Totally Unofficial Naruto Ending by
Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)
Every day, he set aside time to walk through his village, see his people, and bask in his glory.
Uchiha Sasuke. Rokudaime Hokage.
Last Hokage.
How he loved the sound of that.
Reactions among his people were mixed. Some loved him. Some feared him. All respected him. Not that it mattered how they felt in the end. None could hope to challenge him.
He had become the One True Enemy of the Shinobi World, just as he'd promised Naruto he would. All the hatred was piled upon him, and he wore it like a badge of honor. Let them hate him, and no one else.
There were battles. They came to him and declared war, and he crushed them with barely a thought. Sometimes he stood among the piles of the dead, waiting for more meaningless sacrifices. They would never stop coming, and he would always be ready for them.
They didn't hate Konoha. They didn't even hate the title of Hokage. It was only him that they hated, and that was as it should be.
When Uchiha Sasuke took Konoha, it could have been the end. It wasn't.
The survivors fled, and were welcomed with open arms by the people of the Land of Waves. They still remembered the boy who had saved them, and were proud to provide a home for his grave. And in just over three years, the Village Hidden in the Waves was up and running. There was just one condition that both the citizens and the Shodai Namikage had insisted upon.
Uzumaki Naruto was posthumously declared the Rokudaime Hokage. It was not a difficult task: Sasuke had been rather thorough in wiping out the former generation of Konoha that would have opposed it, and with the original Waves citizens adding their support, it was a done deal.
"How did it go, Kakashi-sensei?"
The man froze, nostalgia washing over him. "It's been a long time since anyone called me that."
The young man grinned at him. "Yeah, well, it feels weird to call you anything else. So?"
Kakashi nodded and sighed. "He's still there, and still insane, from what I saw."
"Did he notice you?"
"Does he ever?"
"So we have nothing to worry about."
Kakashi shook his head. "I would never say that, Shodai-sama. He's the last Uchiha for a reason, and the only one keeping him restrained right now is himself. If that ever changes-"
"It won't. He made a promise to Naruto nii-san, and he'd damn well better keep it!"
"I hope that as well, you know. But Sasuke has been in the habit of breaking bonds for a long time now. I'd like to think he'll honor this one longer than any other, but there's no way to be sure with him."
"I wish he'd die," the young man whispered.
"He is serving an important purpose," Kakashi reminded him gently. "With him alive, no one attacks anyone else. No one has set their eyes on our small nation. If Sasuke were to die, someone would need to replace him. And I doubt anyone is strong enough."
"I'd rather have a hero who can't die, personally."
"He wouldn't be a hero, unless there was a villain to define him as such. We've been over this several times. Now, is there anything else? I've got some downtime saved up, and I intend to use it."
"Going to do some reading?" the young man asked with a lecherous grin.
Kakashi stared at him blankly. "Actually, I thought I would check on Sakura."
The grin faded fast. "There's been no change. Like you said, there's no one strong enough. She'll be trapped in his cursed genjutsu forever. And with any luck, so will he."
"One can hope, Shodai-sama," Kakashi said as he turned to leave the office. "That's all we have sometimes."
Frowning, Sarutobi Konohamaru leaned back in his chair, glaring at Kakashi's back. No matter what the man said, they needed a hero, one that would at least have a chance against Sasuke. And it was time to check up on his pet project and find out if it had bore any fruit.
"Time to go to work," Konohamaru sighed.
Just as Konohamaru had said, there was no change in Sakura's condition. No one had any idea exactly what she was experiencing in the genjutsu, but considering that Sasuke easily could have made her mind destroy itself, apparently he'd shown her some mercy.
Just not enough to ever actually let her out of the genjutsu.
Kakashi alone understood that this was not necessarily an act of cruelty. For so long, Sakura had believed in a dream: that Sasuke would return to them, and return her love. Kakashi had known it would never happen, the moment Sasuke left them. But just as Naruto had been unable to let go of his promise to bring Sasuke home, Sakura had been unable to let go of Sasuke, no matter how deep into darkness he ran. Kakashi had feared that Sakura's pursuit would result in her dying at Sasuke's hands, and in a sense, she had. It was starting to look as if only another Rinnegan wielder would be able to free Sakura.
It wasn't impossible, but it was quite a longshot. Sasuke attacked anyone who approached him now, and the only Uzumaki they had left was Karin, who was far too valuable to risk.
This wasn't what Naruto had wanted for them, Kakashi knew. It wasn't what he'd died for. He had allowed Sasuke to kill him, in the hopes that it would open his friend's eyes. All it had really done was restrain Sasuke's madness the slightest bit: Sasuke still considered the entire world his enemy, but in his mind, the world did not extend past the borders of the ruins of Konoha. Kakashi wasn't sure if something in Naruto's blood had done it, or if Sasuke had placed himself under genjutsu. All that mattered was that he was contained.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Kakashi made his way to the shoreline. He no longer had access to the Memorial Stone, but the semi-regular walks made him feel closer to Rin and Obito.
Along the way, he caught sight of an unmarked warship slicing through the fog. It seemed to only be passing by, but Kakashi's body tensed all the same. If the time had come, he would at least take them all down with him.
The various shinobi on board spotted him, and though neither he nor they could spot village alliances at that distance, they recognized him all the same. As one, they all saluted him.
Stunned, Kakashi hesitated before returning the salute, and held it until the warship vanished back into the fog. Given their speed and direction, Kakashi figured there was only one place they could be headed: Konoha. More challengers for Sasuke, then. More pointless sacrifices. More ghosts for a ghost town.
Karin jerked awake at the sound of a nearby voice, and blinked slowly in the dim light. It took her a long moment before she became aware of the pain again. It never stopped, exactly, but because of that, she had more or less gotten used to it, and often forgot it entirely.
The voice stopped abruptly, and then said, "Ah, you're awake, Karin. Let me get your glasses."
"No need," Karin murmured, focusing on the man-shaped blur approaching her. Sending a bit of chakra to her eyes, the flaws in her vision faded at once, and she was able to make out Konohamaru staring up at her in wonder.
"Your eyes," he whispered. "You fixed them?"
"It doesn't last, so I have to do it each time I wake up, but yeah," Karin sighed. "Are they responding yet?"
"I think she winked at me. Or twitched at me. One of those. It was while I was telling her about our new ramen stand. I think she's excited. Or just hungry."
"Figures," Karin chuckled softly. "So, wanna get started?"
Konohamaru paused. "If you're feeling up to it," he said.
"Always am. Hang on." Karin took a deep breath, released it, and then began to work. She bit down hard on her tongue, and through the new pain, she could feel her chakra pouring out of her body, even as the chakra almost instantly came back to her. If she focused, she could actually follow the chakra's path: along the damp cave walls, and into the jumble of humanoid masses on either side of her. The bodies began to glow, ever so faintly, and then the chakra came rushing back to Karin, though at a slightly slower rate, and with less potency.
The process went on for about ten minutes, and then Karin sagged against the cave wall, completely spent. Konohamaru brought her water to drink, which she gulped down and nearly choked on. He gently wiped her mouth, and it was a sign of how often he'd done so that there was no awkwardness in the gesture.
It still amazed her, how resourceful shinobi could be, or rather, how little reverence they had for their dead. She had no idea who had preserved the genetic material of Kushina and her son, not that it truly mattered. It had all ended up in Konohamaru's hands, and he had brought it to her. She remembered that Kakashi had been the one who described the process Uchiha Madara had used to reproduce Zetsu clones. The memories had been stored in Obito's eye, and while Kakashi did not mind sharing them, he could not bring himself to be a part of the project. Tsunade had personally bonded Karin to the cave wall, and created the nutrient-rich soup that the clones were sprayed down with every day. She insisted that it was a longshot, but maintained that if any cells other than her grandfather's could possibly produce viable clones, they would have to belong to Kushina and Naruto, for their sheer stubbornness if no other reason.
Within six months, the clones had become featureless but unmistakably human-shaped masses. They did not respond consistently to outside stimuli, but extremely limited movement had been observed from time to time. Karin was usually too exhausted to talk to them, so Konohamaru visited each day, hoping to bore them into annoyance with the details of his day. The only thing he managed with consistency was to put Karin to sleep.
Hanabi did not like being a teacher. Hated it, actually. But, she was used to hating everyone around her and ordering people around, and the skills, if they could be called that, just happened to transfer well.
It helped that she could be rather scary when she wanted, which was most of the time.
Konohamaru had talked her into it. He had said that he would stop asking her out every single day if she would do it. And Hanabi really wanted him to stop. He had kept his word, too. He now sent his daily lunch invitations entirely through other people, and she continued to turn them all down. With a smile, but of course, he wasn't there to see that, and anyone who blabbed would suffer her wrath, which was considerable.
Hanabi was free to teach her class whatever she wanted. She could have droned on and on about the superiority of her clan, for example. She didn't. She could have told them all what a jerk their leader was. She didn't. She could have even had them use a drawing of Sasuke for target practice. That, she did, frequently and with abundant joy. The only thing Hanabi was required to teach her class, according to Konohamaru, was the one thing she should have refused to, had she been an upstanding member of her own clan.
But, they were kids, and Hanabi had recently come to think of her clan as consisting only of people who obviously cared about her. And judging by that standard, the majority of her clan would currently consist of people not related to her by blood, except Hinata. She was always the exception. Bit annoying, really, but in a way that Hanabi could not actually blame her for. Which was even more annoying, but also in a way that Hinata couldn't be blamed for. About the only thing Hinata could be blamed for was giving Hanabi far too many hugs and kisses, and while Hanabi would never admit to liking those, she would admit to preferring that no one but Hinata give them to her. Konohamaru was far too eager to sign up for the honor as it was, and Hanabi wouldn't have put it past Moegi, either. That girl was so weird sometimes...
So, every day, even when it rained, Hanabi took her class outside for at least an hour. There, she taught them how to channel chakra into and through their hands. The ones with sufficient chakra control then learned to channel chakra through their fingers and fingertips. And they would all send their chakra into the ground. Hanabi gave various reasons for this: anything from thanking Mother Earth to helping the grass grow. It didn't really matter, kids were easy to convince, especially when she said things in her scary voice. She wasn't sure what that was, exactly, as most kids claimed all her voices were scary.
All that really mattered was that all that chakra was sent into the ground. Hanabi did not know exactly why it was important. Konohamaru had been vague on the details, and she had not pressed him. He had really only said that it was about ensuring the safety of the village for the next generation. Hanabi had peeked, once, with her Byakugan. She saw enough to convince her not to look again.
Hinata was given very strict orders. No one was to pass her without a Kage's permission.
So when Kushina tried to leave the cave, Hinata stood in the way.
"Who are you, then?" Kushina asked, sounding amused, but only just so.
Hinata swallowed hard and answered. "I am Hyūga Hinata, and I apologize, Kushina-sama, but I am under orders to let no one pass. Not without the permission of a Kage, at least."
Kushina turned back to discuss this with her companions. One, Hinata noted with growing excitement, looked exactly like Naruto, save for the curious addition of Karin draped limply over his back. After a moment, Kushina faced Hinata again. "Who gave you this order, Hinata-chan?"
"The Shodai Namikage."
"Ah. Well then, by order of the Shodai Uzukage, let us pass."
Hinata blinked. "Ano... who is the Shodai Uzukage, exactly?"
"That would be me."
"Oh." Hinata bent down and came up with a large box. "In that case, I'm to give you these, Uzukage-sama."
Kushina grinned as she peered into the box to find her new Kage robes. "No need to be so formal, Hinata-chan," she said, patting Hinata on the shoulder. "Hey, how would you like to get married? My Naru-chan needs a well-mannered wife, and Karin-chan could use a nice sister."
Hinata couldn't help it, she blushed. "I-I would be honored, Kushina-sama, but-"
"Come on, you have to be more decisive if you're going to be an Uzumaki, Hinata-chan. Like this." Kushina wrapped an arm firmly around Hinata. "You're going to be my new daughter, and that's all there is to it. Now, once I get dressed, I'll need you to guide me to this Namikage person. We need to have words."
Konohamaru was eating lunch when Hinata tracked him down. This was no real surprise, as he made it a point to eat with his subordinates, so he ate at least six small meals throughout each day so that no one felt excluded. It was a curious but effective tactic: very few people felt the Namikage was unapproachable, or unable to sympathize with the struggles of the common shinobi. Konohamaru had never once put on his Kage robes, in fact: the only sign he was anything other than a standard shinobi was the Kage hat he wore everywhere, and even that stayed firmly tied to his back rather than his head.
Perhaps it would have been better to meet the new Uzukage in private, rather than in a public cafeteria, but Hinata had no real choice. Konohamaru had ordered her to bring Kushina straight to him the moment she was dressed, and with the smell of ramen in their noses, Kushina and Naruto had both insisted on food first. The moment they entered the cafeteria, Hinata found herself standing alone, with only two recently substituted bowls for company. Kushina and Naruto had made it to the front of the line already, with the excuse that Kage ate first, and injured VIPs after them.
Hinata sighed and made her way over to Konohamaru, who was chuckling as he finished his ramen. "My apologies, Kono-kun, but your most honored guests were of another mind."
Konohamaru laughed. "It's okay, Hinata. Thanks for bringing them here." He paused and added, "Is Karin okay like that?"
"She protested when I tried to remove her, and declined any attempt to give her medical attention. Kushina-sama seems to think she only needs fattening up, and I imagine they are all very hungry, so..."
They were interrupted by another pair of substitutions: the two ninja that had been seated across from Konohamaru were instantly replaced by Kushina, Naruto, and Karin, who was still draped across Naruto's back. Kushina slid one of the two huge bowls of ramen she was carrying to Naruto, though it seemed to pain her to part with it.
"So you're this Namikage I keep hearing about?" Kushina asked, staring at him curiously. "You're kinda short for a Kage, aren't you? What makes you think you're qualified?"
"Oi, kaa-chan!" Naruto protested. "The Tsuchikage's even tinier! And like I told you before, Konohamaru's my apprentice!"
"Don't interrupt Uzukage-sama, baka!" Karin snapped, shoving the bowl of ramen to his mouth.
Naruto glared at her, but began to eat because he was indeed hungry. He didn't forget to occasionally pass some back to her, which Karin ate reluctantly. She did not like being fed like a child, but she didn't actually have the strength to eat a bowl by herself yet. As for germs, well, she had practically just given birth to Naruto, so anything he could give her, she likely already had.
Konohamaru cleared his throat. "Naruto nii-san is right on both counts. I admit I don't know a thousand jutsu yet, but I was picked over several who did. I like to think that counts for something. And only one of them could do this, which means even more." Konohamaru raised his hand and formed a medium-sized Rasengan with no visible effort.
Kushina's eyes narrowed. "How did you-?!"
Naruto coughed loudly and raised his hand.
Kushina sighed. "Naru-chan, you shouldn't go around handing out family secrets."
Naruto pouted at her. "Konohamaru is family," he insisted. "He's my adopted little brother." When Kushina didn't seem impressed, he added, "He's also the old man's grandson."
Konohamaru frowned, but Kushina finally seemed satisfied. "We could do far worse than the Sandaime's grandson," she reasoned. "And any Kage that eats ramen with his people can't be too bad. Fine, he's an honorary Uzumaki from this day forward. We'll get him a badge or something later."
"Do I get a choice?" Konohamaru asked.
"Nope," Kushina replied promptly. "Enough talk, my ramen's getting cold."
"Is this what you were hoping for, Kono-kun?" Hinata whispered to him.
Konohamaru shrugged. "Could be worse. She could have married me off to Karin."
Hinata laughed weakly. "Later, remind me to tell you about some of the decrees she made on the way over here..."
"You could have disagreed, you know," Konohamaru muttered an hour later.
"I couldn't, either," Karin muttered back, a permanent blush visible in her cheeks as she shifted into a more comfortable position on his bed. "You weren't there. She was being openly hostile about the idea of a Namikage, and Naruto-kun and I were trying to talk her down. Vouching for you wasn't enough, so I told her you were the kind of man I would't mind marrying, if I didn't have a choice. It was the only thing I could think of!"
"And so she took your choice away. Brilliant, Karin. Did you also suggest giving her grandkids?"
"No, but she expects them anyhow. It's implied when you marry an Uzumaki woman, apparently."
Konohamaru glared at her. "This is all wrong, you know. I wanted to do this properly. There was supposed to be romance and a big, impressive gesture that you'd never forget. Not your clan head ordering you to marry me. Who wants to tell their kids that story?"
Karin smirked at him. "Kushina-sama will still be around. After meeting her, trust me, I'm sure they'll understand."
"So we're actually going through with this?"
"We sort of have to. It was your bright idea to have an alliance of three Kage, once Kushina-sama and Naruto-kun recovered. You can't just ignore their decrees, or it'll look bad. And keep in mind, this is how pushy Kushina-sama is when she's happy. Do you really want her mad at you?"
"I thought having three Kage in one village would be cool. And I thought Naruto nii-san would back me up."
"Don't expect that too often, she is his mother. Mine, too, I guess. But she didn't actually give birth to me, or die to save me, so she can't put those particular guilt trips on me."
"...do you even want to marry me, Karin?"
"What makes you think I don't?"
"Every drop of drool I've seen you spill any time someone even mentions Sasuke?"
Karin frowned at him. "You think I'm still like that?"
"Obviously not. But it's pretty hard to forget, considering you were still like that even after he tried to kill you. I never wanted you dead, and I got your consent before asking you to do anything that threatened your life. Because even though I was willing to sacrifice you, your life was still precious to me. And I don't understand how you could love someone like him, and then love someone like me. It makes no sense and it's hard for me to accept."
"I think... I loved Sasuke because he saved me, once, a long time ago. I never forgot that. And maybe I used it justify forgiving every rotten thing he did to me afterwards. I shouldn't have. You didn't save me, but you gave me a chance to be a savior. I had saved people before, but this was the first time I had a chance to save a village. I wanted my existence to mean something, and I was prepared to die for it. I wasn't prepared to live afterwards. But if I can live, I'd like to do it with a man who considers my life precious." Karin paused and glared at him. "And what about you, huh? I heard as recently as a week ago that you're still asking Hanabi out every day!"
Konohamaru laughed. "Oh, that's nothing to worry about. I have a secret that I can finally let you in on: I've been asking Hanabi out on someone else's behalf. If she ever said yes to my offers for a date, we were sort of going to ambush her with the truth."
"That's a horrible plan."
"Well, it wasn't my plan. I owe this person several favors, so I had to go along with it. Anyway, I think they'd be good for Hanabi. Keep her in line and all that."
"Who could possibly keep Hanabi in line?"
The ambush was perfectly executed, which Hanabi had to appreciate. One moment, she had been moving a stack of textbooks in the academy storeroom, and in the next, she was pressed against the wall and being thoroughly kissed. As kisses went, it was a rather good one. There was just one small problem: even if Hanabi had her eyes closed at the time, she would have still been able to see her attacker, and so that wouldn't have changed their identity one bit.
So after several long seconds, Hanabi finally shoved her attacker away. "What the hell, Moegi?!" she demanded, hoping she had put enough outrage in her tone to be convincing.
For her part, Moegi smirked. "If you were really mad, you'd be attacking me right now, Hanabi-chan."
"Maybe I'm giving you a chance to explain before I kill you!"
"Maybe you're too busy enjoying the memory of that kiss to do much of anything," Moegi countered, grinning at her. "You liked it, right?"
"S-Shut up!" Hanabi stammered, red in the face.
"You don't have to be embarrassed. I don't mind being your secret. I kept my feelings a secret this long, didn't I?"
"Wait! I thought you liked Konohamaru! And he likes me!"
"Uh, no. He got over you ages ago, and I grew out of my crush on him even sooner. All those little love notes were actually from me. He was just my middleman."
Hanabi glared at Moegi. "So you were too cowardly to just come to me yourself?"
Moegi chuckled. "I assumed you would not have been at all receptive to a girl professing her love for you. To the point where you might have been incredibly insensitive and loud about saying no."
"I wouldn't have done that!"
"No?"
"I wouldn't have done that to you," Hanabi clarified.
"Really? Why not?"
"Because... you're my friend," Hanabi admitted slowly. "You're one of the few friends I have. You're weird and annoying at times, but I wouldn't have hurt you like that."
Moegi grinned. "I love you, too, Hanabi-chan."
"T-That's not what I said!"
"It's what you might as well have said. You would have been concerned about hurting my feelings. You really can be a sweetie when you want to."
Hanabi blushed. "Whatever! I haven't agreed to anything!"
"You haven't exactly refused, either," Moegi noted, leering at her. "You're usually so vocal when you don't like something."
"I'm just being considerate of your feelings again!" Hanabi claimed.
"Why don't you consider this feeling?" Moegi murmured as she leaned in and began to place swift, sweet kisses along Hanabi's jaw.
"N-No!" Hanabi whimpered, closing her eyes and trembling as Moegi neared her mouth.
"Careful," Moegi warned softly. "You're sounding more and more like your sister."
"I'm not!" Hanabi denied, and then Moegi's lips covered hers, and she instantly forgot what they were arguing about.
"So there's no other hope of recovery?" Kushina asked softly.
"If there is, I don't know about it," Tsunade admitted. "But I'm not about to let Sasuke anywhere near her again, so I hope there is a way I don't know about."
"But if he can release her-" Naruto began.
"You may be willing to take chances with your teammate's life, but I'm a bit more protective of my apprentices," Tsunade said sharply, glaring at him. "I don't care if you are Hokage now, I'll beat you into the ground before I let Sasuke touch her. He's had too many chances as it is, including one that allowed him to kill you, gaki. If you insist on trusting him, I'll just kill you now and save him the effort."
Naruto bit his lip and lowered his head.
Kushina sighed and squeezed his shoulder. "I have to side with Tsunade, Naru-chan. Nothing I've heard about Sasuke suggests that I should trust him, with your life or your friend's. Which is a real shame, as his mother was such a good person. Perhaps once Karin is fully recovered, we can try some less conventional methods. But for now, we leave Sakura as she is. I doubt she'd complain about who we're entrusting her to."
"Yeah," Naruto agreed reluctantly. He gently took Sakura's hand and held it.
"You can talk to her," Tsunade added after a moment. "There's no evidence that she can hear us, but there's none that she can't, either. It might help, if only a little."
Naruto knelt down and laid his head against Sakura's arm. "Hey, Sakura-chan. I want you to meet someone really special to me."
Tsunade stepped back as Naruto introduced his mother to Sakura. She still had mixed feelings on just how much of the original Naruto and Kushina had been preserved in the clones, but they certainly seemed authentic enough, right down to all the flaws she remembered in both. Naruto still believed in Sasuke to a fault, and Kushina was just as hot-tempered, though being reunited with Naruto seemed to have calmed her down, if only slightly.
Imperfect as they were, the village needed them. At least, it needed Naruto, and having Kushina around would keep him happy. So even if Sakura was never freed, the village would live on.
Next Chapter: Dreaming
So what is Sakura seeing while stuck in her genjutsu coma? Very little that she wants to, but perhaps everything that she needs to.
Endnotes:
I have recently realized something. No story I set anywhere near, or after the manga's end, is going to be a crowd pleaser. And that is largely because I myself am not pleased with certain parts of the manga's end. As you may have guessed, mostly the Sasuke bits.
Anyway, to clear up any misconceptions: I don't hate Sakura. I hate that she can't let go of Sasuke, but I don't hate her. In fact, when she's not crushing on Sasuke or treating Naruto unfairly, I quite like her. Which is why I've devoted an entire chapter to her, and what she may or may not be experiencing under Sasuke's genjutsu. Although I can certainly understand where you might get the impression that I'm not a Sakura fan, considering most of them feature Sasuke, and all that goes along with him. But I don't consider it my fault that anything happy featuring Sasuke either tends to be wildly out of character, or suspect. I mean, every major Uchiha has had an abrupt personality shift for whatever reason. And none of those shifts resulted in them becoming better people. So if you tell me that Sasuke can settle down with a woman and have a kid, I either assume it's all an illusion, or a long-term plan which is going to result in somebody having a very bad day. And Sasuke is never going to accept that Naruto is stronger than him, and Naruto is going to foolishly keep accepting Sasuke's challenges and not killing him. So, inevitably, Sasuke is going to kill Naruto.
Sasuke was kind enough to confirm a theory of mine, too: that he's prepared to stab Naruto in the back at any point in the future (the betrayal schedule is never wrong). Which essentially means that both are far too blockheaded to change, no matter how much harm it causes them and those around them. I'm willing to go as far as saying that Naruto SHOULD NOT be Hokage for this very same reason. Either Sasuke would assassinate Naruto, or Sasuke would just keep ruining things and Naruto wouldn't allow anyone to kill him, despite it being the best solution. Which would force Konoha to either go behind Naruto's back, or kill him. And it is indeed time for the series to end when the people that need Naruto dead are the good guys.