The End

Summary: Dying on the battlefield, the seventh Hokage loses consciousness and dreams of the events that led to the destruction of Konoha.

Rated: T

You already know this, but I do not own Naruto.

Past

Present

The rain pelted down upon her as her blood continued to drain out. The moans of the dying had ceased. She would be the last to die, just as he had promised her. Her breathing was growing softer yet more labored with each passing moment. She started feeling dizzy, and she couldn't help but wonder what Naruto would have done differently; however, she would never know.

She had lost everyone that was precious to her. Neji, Shikamaru, and herself were the only one's of the original rookies to survive this long. Each of them mentally scarred by the things they had witnessed. However, she knew that this war had taken even them from her on this unforgiving day. "Maybe I should just give up," she thought to herself.

"Don't ever give up, I believe in you!"

Naruto's words still rang in her mind even though he was gone forever.

"Lady Hokage," a deep voice pierced through the silence that surrounded her.

"Lady Hokage," she repeated to herself, ignoring the voice. She had never wanted to be Hokage. It was only by cruel and heart-breaking circumstances that she even had the position.

Her tears mixed with rain on her cheeks as she thought about the sixth Hokage, Naruto.

Ten years previous

Tsunade had said that she was getting too old to deal with being the leader of a shinobi village, so on his 20th birthday, she named Naruto the new Hokage. Sakura had never seen the overactive ninja so happy.

He was a great Hokage, but that didn't stop Akatsuki from perusing him. They had tried countless times to get to Naruto, but all they managed was to cause a lot of damage to the village.

Less than two years after Naruto became Hokage, Sasuke returned. She and Naruto had accepted him with open arms, happy their friend was home. For one week, their team was together again. But what happened next shocked them all.

On the seventh day after Sasuke's return, there was a council meeting about his punishment. The council had decided that their Hokage was too emotionally attached to the Uchiha to handle the matter himself. So, Naruto had gone to speak on his friend's behalf while Sakura had to stay behind and file Naruto's paper work.

She had no doubt Naruto would convince them to go easy on him, so she wasn't worried. At least, not until she heard the explosion. She dropped the files and ran as fast as she possibly could to where the meeting was being held.

When she arrived, she couldn't believe the sight before her. Sasuke stood in what was left the hallway with an unconscious Naruto on his shoulder. She was so shocked she almost didn't notice the masked Akatsuki member congratulating him on a job well done.

As realization dawned on her, she went from being so shocked that she was unable to move to so angry she couldn't think straight.

"TRAITOR!"

Sasuke turned around to face his pink haired teammate. She could see the sad acceptance in his eyes, and that only angered her more. She wouldn't beg him to reconsider this time. He had gone too far.

He could see it in her eyes as she calmly spoke the next words.

"You will not take him. I will kill you."

Sasuke's eyes slightly widened in surprise. He couldn't believe she had changed so much.

"You're annoying," was his only reply.

She charged at him with chakra gathered in her feet and fist. Before she could make it to him, however, the masked Akatsuki appeared before her. Her attention was immediately drawn to his sharingan. Her eyes widened, and she fell to the floor.

Sasuke watched with a sad expression as her body jerked and blood began to seep from her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Her unusual pink hair was slowly being soaked red, and he hated that this had to be his last memory of her. He never took his eyes off her as he disappeared in a poof of smoke with the Akatsuki member.

She awoke, and realized she had lost consciousness. She caught a glimpse of red and black to her left, but her brain was unable to put the pieces together. She closed her eyes, and sleep took her again.

Sakura opened her eyes to find herself in the hospital. She looked around the room to find Kakashi sleeping in the chair beside her bed, his hand limply holding his book. She smiled softly for a moment before she remembered why she was here.

She sat straight up, ripping the many tubes from her arm. She hissed as small trails of blood stained her arm. Kakashi awoke instantly and released a sigh of relief. The moment ended quickly, however, when he heard the first word out of her mouth.

"Naruto?"

His voice was filled with pain as he spoke, "His body was found at the gates three weeks ago." His eye never left hers as he watched all color leave her delicate features while tears silently poured down her porcelain cheeks.

"How long have I been out," she asked in a cold and stony tone.

"Almost three months. How do you feel?"

"Slight muscle atrophy but otherwise ok."

There was a pause before she spoke again. "Kakashi, there's more...isn't there?"

He sighed; she had learned to read him like a book. "Yes, while you were unconscious, Tsunade battled the female Akatsuki member named Konan, but..."

"She lost."

"No," he corrected her. "She won, but the technique she used killed them both. In the end, there was nothing left of Konan except ash."

Sukura's lips slightly turned up at that, but it couldn't even come close to being considered a smile. She knew the technique Tsunade had used.

"Also..." he ventured, unsure whether to continue.

"What now," she asked, staring at her hands.

"It seems, Naruto wanted you to take over as Hokage if something happened to him."

"What?!"

She awoke again and could here a man speaking to her, but she just couldn't seem to concentrate. She slowly opened her eyes to see an Akatsuki cloak, but she was just too tired to care anymore.

Five years previous

Sakura had been working late in her office again, but tonight she decided to go home for a change. As she walked from her front door to her bedroom she thought about how much the world had changed.

Akatsuki had all the Bijuu, but they were still attacking. All the hidden villages were taking damage, but it seemed Akatsuki was hell bent on destroying Konoha. The attacks were relentless, and many shinobi had been killed. In the short time she had been Hokage, she had already lost Kakashi, Ino, Lee, Gai, and Hinata. That isn't even counting the other shinobi she had never met before she had been given the position.

While lost in her thoughts she reached her bedroom and undressed. She slipped on a tank top and a pair of boxers then turned around to put her dirty clothes in the hamper. That was when she noticed the man watching her from the chair in the corner of her room.

She was speechless. She immediately knew who this man was, even though she had never seen him before. Only one man possessed the Rin'nengan.

"Pein," she whispered.

"He's a master at hiding his presence," she thought as she realized that even though she could see him, she was still unable to sense his presence.

He smirked, and in a flash he was standing before her with only an inch between them. Try as she might, she was unable to stop the blush that graced her cheeks when she realized that the most powerful man in the world had just saw her in nothing but her panties.

He stared at her with those piercing eyes wandering over her body before returning to her flushed face. He watched as she crossed her arms over her chest, and her expression changed from one of embarrassment to one of fury.

"Why are you in my home, Akatsuki," she asked, venom lacing the last word.

His smirk grew before returning to the chair. He said nothing for a few moments after he sat down. He only watched her. She finally decided to have a seat on her bed while she waited for his answer. After all, she wasn't about to destroy her home when she knew she wouldn't be able to kill him, so she might as well hear what he has to say.

As she sat there, watching him watch her, she realized that she should be afraid of this man, but she wasn't. Not at the moment, anyway. She figured that if he were going to kill her, he would have had the perfect opportunity while she undressed in front of him. She mentally screamed at herself for letting her guard down, but nothing could be done about it now.

"Lady Hokage, how many lives have been lost on your side since this war began?"

"Far too many," she replied in a harsh tone.

He chuckled darkly, and it gave her the chills.

"Akatsuki could be protecting Konoha instead of destroying it, you know," he replied in a deep, smooth voice.

"Oh really? Explain."

"You, Haruno Sakura, have proven yourself to us many times. If you were to join Akatsuki, you would remain Hokage and the villagers would be safe."

"I would rather die than join you!"

"I'm not finished," he stated firmly. "If you refuse this offer, I promise you will live to witness the destruction of Konoha."

She stared at him wide-eyed before dropping her head. She knew he could see her tears, but she didn't care. "I will never join you. I can't," she told him in a quivering voice. "You killed Naruto."

There was a long pause as he seemed to contemplate her answer. "I see you are still a child. I shall return once the pain has matured you," was all he said as he disappeared.

"Lady Hokage."

Sakura turned her head to see the man who spoke. It was him.

"Pein," she growled.

She watched as he smirked and knelt beside her. She could feel his piercings rub against her cheek as he whispered sweetly, "If only you had followed me, your precious village would not be a pile of rubble now. While it was believed that your teammate, the Kyuubi, would have been Konoha's savior, you were nothing more than its destruction. "

Her eyes widened and tears once again poured down her cheeks, washed away by the rain.

"Tell me Sakura, has the pain finally matured you?"

"Yes," she replied sadly.

He began to softly stroke her cheek as he continued to assault her ear with his whispers.

"Good, now that you have nothing left, will you join me, or will you die with you childish fantasies?"

"I will join you," she whispered. Then, her arms shot up and wrapped around him tightly, and she forced every bit of her remaining chakra out through her chest and hands into his body, shredding his organs. "In hell," she finished as he collapsed on top of her.

As she lay dying under the corpse of the once great Akatsuki leader, her torn chest leaking the last of her blood, she noticed the rain had finally stopped. She stared at the sky and could almost see all her friends waiting for her with Naruto standing in front waving her to join them.

She couldn't help but smile at the vision of her friends as the pain slowly left her body, and she finally closed her eyes for the last time.

A/N: OK, I have no idea why I wrote something so depressing. I've been working on another story, that I haven't posted yet, and got writers block. After a while I came up with this idea and just went with it. I apologize if it was confusing. Reviews help to improve!