Disclaimer: I don't Own Naruto


.:. Warnings/Notes .:.

This story isn't like anything I've written before. My other series, "Stay With Me", was a bit angsty, but this goes beyond angst as far as my FF writing goes. Also, there will be a lot more fight scenes than there had been in "Stay With Me". =D

This story features many mentions of character deaths, some that have truly happened in the manga, others that I have fictionalized for the purpose of this story. There will be a lot of 'bad guy' bashing and apologies goes to fans of the Akatsuki (cause I love them personally), Sasuke (again, love him as well), Orochimaru (okay, I don't love him, but he's just creepy), or anyone else whom is ranted on in this story.

*Flashbacks will feature mostly official quotes from the regular Naruto and the Naruto Shippuuden series.


In the destructed streets of what remains of Konohagakure, 16-year-old Haruno Sakura gave a long, sad stare at the ruins of a place she once called "home". Her blonde teammate, Uzumaki Naruto, was the only person whom could be seen at the pinkette's side during such a pained time in both of their young adult lives.

It was a time that would surely haunt them both forever, as well as guarantee more hardships to come throughout the rest of their lives. The entire place held such a strong sense of death all around. The two shinobi stood there in the ruins of it all, just barely holding whatever was left of their home village together. As they glanced up at the hokage monument, Naruto felt Sakura tense beside him as she glanced at the hokage whom had such a large impact on her own life – Tsunade.

The village had truly become a pure masterpiece of ruins. So many buildings—homes, restaurants, and shops—had either been burned to the ground or set afire during the prolonged battle that started with an attack by the Akatsuki, to other enemy villages attacking Konohagakure's weakened state and ultimately leading to the official Fourth Ninja War—a battle that had actually been able to rival all of the Ninja Wars that had come before it.

The battle against the Akatsuki was won, all thanks to their "undying Will of Fire" that the entire country and particularly Konohagakure had become known for holding in their hearts. However, at the same time, so much had been lost—no, sacrificed—in the process. Was it truly a victory?

Leaf and it's allies, Sunagakure, had been put to war against Rain, Cloud, Stone, and Sound—or at least, what remained of it. Everyday had become endless hardships of attacks, battles, death, destruction, arson, and pain.

"Heh," Naruto thought to himself grimly, "this is just what that Akatsuki bastard once mentioned, right? Pain throughout the world?"


.:. Flashback .:.

"This is nothing…Compared to the pain the world will suffer."

.:. End of Flashback .:.


Naruto glanced up at the one remaining structure that hadn't caught sight of all of the terror—the hokage monument. He glanced at all of the faces the structure held and his eyes finally rested on the the figure of his father, Minato Namikaze.

He stared up at the man who looked identical to himself and his lips almost tilted into a smile—almost being the key word, since too much had been terrorized to smile over anything else, no matter what it happened to be.

Everything had been lost that had ever been held dearly to him—Sasuke was gone, yet again, though this time, Naruto didn't care anymore.

How could he? Sasuke was, after all, one of the one's responsible for all of this. He attacked the entire village, foolishly holding innocents responsible for the slaughter of his clan. Shinobi and civilians, many whom were not even born during the time of the Uchiha massacre, had been slain, all because of Sasuke being so hellbent on getting revenge.

Sakura's teacher and parental-figure had been defeated, her last words being towards Naruto, as she appointed him as the Rukodaime hokage to take her place. Sasuke had killed all of the elder council members first during his attacks, leaving the final duty of passing the title of Hokage down to anyone Tsunade found fit.

"Heh…What good is a hokage to a village in ruins?"

Naruto inwardly chuckled grimly to himself at the thought. He had failed them.

Kakashi and Jiraiya had both died at the hands of Pein, a thought that seemed to always make Naruto's fists clench in fury at the memory.

Things shouldn't have ended this way, he thought. Not only one, but both of his former sensei's had been taken from him, and now he felt utterly lost. Had it not been for the help of his friends, he was sure the village would have completely fallen apart.

Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon—the youngest and toughest shinobi that remained in Konohagakure to boot—had all been immediately promoted to Chuunin and were thus far the youngest unstoppable team the village had to offer. It was their efforts alone that had offered a great deal in some of Konoha's finest elder shinobi to be able to rest some and replenish their energy.


He looked over at the broken woman standing beside him. Her face was covered in a heavy mixture of dried blood, sweat, tears, and dirt. They all had that look now. Wounds and scars had painted all of their bodies as lifelong reminders of what they had to go through. And this time, Uzumaki Naruto was going to pull them through.

But could he pull them through successfully? That was the question now. But it was a question holding an inevitable answer. Could he do it? You're damn straight he could. And why? Because he never gave up. He didn't give up to Pein, he sure as hell didn't give up on the four territories that declared official war upon the village, and he would never give up on anything else.

As Naruto always boasted, never going back on his word was his nindo—his ninja way. Even with all of that said, however, these battles seemed endless as the war raged on. Naruto and his friends were strong, but things were getting more hectic nonetheless.

In a way, he felt lighter having gained the ultimate respect by what remained of the village's residents. He was the new Rukodaime Hokage and that was how it was going to remain as long as he had a say in it.

It was very hard, protecting what remained of your village from nearly-constant attacks. His shinobi barely had a chance to eat regularly let alone rest and bathe daily. It was truly becoming a foul scene as the best of what remained of Konohagakure was gradually wearing out.

Smoke was all that could be seen from the village from a far enough distance. You would think that they had truly lived in the Village Hidden in the Smoke. But arson had become just one of the many casualties of this endless war.

Naruto had been certain that had it not been for Shikamaru's assistance in strategical planning, the war would have ceased long ago and Leaf would have been no more. He was glad that the genius had aided him so much and he knew he was forever in his debt for doing so.

Naruto glanced back at the newly formed crowd of shinobi crowded around him, their expressions all serious and exhausted, yet silently understanding and sympathetic towards their new leader. They all looked as if they were truly coming to the end of their ropes. Some of them took the liberty, however, to cover for one another while allowing their squadrons bathe and grab something to eat. Teamwork was constant among the shinobi and Naruto was extremely proud of his friends and precious people.

His glance returned back to his father's carving up on the hokage monument and he pondered something to himself, truly believing that Minato could hear his thoughts.

"What do I do now, dad?" he mused thoughtfully. "What in the hell do I do now?"

A firm hand is felt being placed upon Naruto's shoulder, causing him to turn around to meet the face of the person standing behind him. Draped in his blue and white Kazekage robes stood Sabaku no Gaara, his face sympathetic and Naruto couldn't help but force a sad smile to his face.

Gaara had called forth many Sand Shinobi to aid Konohagakure in their battle. In fact, the entire Sand Village had managed to relocate itself to Konohagakure, including the Kazekage. It was strange but necessary. The more strength, the better.

At least both Kage's could keep their eyes on their villagers at the same time and support one another in more ways than just sympathetically. Gaara looked up at the Yondaime's statue before speaking.

"You look like him. You know that?"

Naruto nodded his head and smirked a bit.

"Yeah, I do, don't I? Who would have thought that the Yondaime's only son grew up to be the Rukodaime of the very same village?" His unspoken words added to that had been "the very same village that shunned him for being the container of the nine-tailed fox."

Gaara looked at his friend's pained eyes, and his grip tightened on his shoulder, silently telling him that he understood his unspoken words, having shared with him a pain that no one else could ever know.


.:. Flashback .:.

"The only one who can understand a Jinchuuriki…Is another Jinchuuriki."
Tsunade, referring to Gaara and Naruto

.:. End of Flashback .:.


Naruto knew that Gaara was there for him whenever he needed him. He looked down at Sakura who was watching them both blankly.

"Sakura, c'mon. Let's go to our apartment for a little while. You need to rest and so do I. Hey, guys," he spoke to the crowd of shinobi behind them, alerting everyone to focus their attention on him.

"Can we…do we have time to rest up for about an hour? I'm exhausted and Sakura needs to rejuvenate her energy as soon as possible so that she can continue her medical tasks."

Everyone nodded their heads in an equally silent 'yes'.

"Arigato. We'll return here in an hour. I expect you all to return as well. Also, half of you can switch off shifts and rest up yourselves. A lot of you look like you could use it."

Sakura, whose home had been caught in the crossfire of the frequent arsenic fires, had been living with Naruto ever since. She had also been over using her chakra beyond her own limits anymore.

Being Konoha's only top medic remaining alive and well, she had to be constantly on her feet – teaching Suna's medics as much medical ninjutsu as she could, as well as Konohagakure medics and also shinobi whom were willing to stop and listen.

The war brought her many injured patients, all of which required more healing chakra than she could handle at times. Naruto learned enough basic medical ninjutsu to lend her some of the Kyuubi's chakra whenever her own reserves were near death points. He truly had become a great Hokage and she was proud of his accomplishments.

The two walked to his apartment, their arms hanging weakly in exhaustion. Sakura noticed that Naruto had just been as dirty and tired as she was. Not caring at this point about her own modesty, she looked up at the blonde whom was looking back at her attentively.

"Wanna jump in the shower with me real quick? It'll be faster if we just shower at the same time." She asked.

He nodded silently and the two walked towards the bathroom side-by-side.

Before, the site of the two showering would have angered Sakura to no end as she longed for it to be Sasuke whom joined her. She used to dream of being taken in the shower roughly as the two passionately made love, but everything changed the day he almost killed her.

It had been right after his main attack on Konoha but it still remained fresh in her heart and that was the day that she stopped loving Sasuke completely.

Sakura and Naruto began taking their clothes off at a snails pace, both suddenly growing aware of what was about to really happen. Finally, Naruto had stripped down, and Sakura had become motivated to quickly do the same.

The water was warm and the two faced opposite directions from one another, both respectively not invading the other's privacy perversely, but instead truly making their joint shower session become as "professional" as they could.

"Naruto," Sakura alerted the blonde whom spun around on his heel in surprise to be met face to face with the pink haired kunoichi. Trying to avoid averting his gaze south, he fixated his eyes on hers as he nodded his head in silent questioning acknowledgment.

"Is my face cut up very badly?"

Naruto looked at her puzzled before reaching a hand forward, wiping away some dirt and blood from her right cheek. She flinched at the painful contact, before Naruto smiled softly at her.

"Just one scratch is all that I can see. Don't worry. You're still as beautiful as ever, Sakura."

He smiled at her in reassurance. Sakura smiled back at him before reaching her own hand forward, smudging some dirt off of his left cheek running the pad of her thumb along his whisker-like scar lines. She picked up a bar of soap and lathered some on her hand before resuming her hand to the former position on his face, rubbing and smudging away the dirt and grime.

Naruto winced at the sting caused by the soap coming in contact with a wound of his own, and he reflexively gripped Sakura's small wrist looking down at it softly, causing her entire hand to go limp beneath his touch.

Sakura took in a deep breath the moment she felt Naruto's soft lips brushing over her soft skin in a tender kiss, his eyes closed as the water continued beating down on his head. Her face became heated from her slight newly found modesty.

Naruto seemingly had snapped back to his senses and released her hand before turning off the water, reaching out to grab them each a towel. Sakura thanked him and the two got out of the shower, completely forgetting the little "moment" they had just had back there with one another.


.:. Flashback .:.

"Way back, I used to hate Sasuke…But once I got used to being with him I realized he's really a lot of fun to be around…he's the person that, more than anyone else, accepted me and my existence. Sasuke is my friend and he represents bonds that I waited so long to receive, so that's why…still that's not much reason…no if it means facing someone like Orochimaru…If my arms get ripped off, I'll just kick him to death. If my legs get ripped off, I'll just bite him to death. If my head gets ripped off, I'll just stare him to death, and if my eyes get ripped out I'll just curse him to death. Even if it means getting torn into pieces, I'm going to take Sasuke back from Orochimaru no matter what!"
Naruto, in reference to his determination to bring Sasuke back to Konohagakure

.:. End of Flashback .:.


Naruto let out a long sigh, though immediately regretted doing so after the speculative look that Sakura gave him from across the room as she towel dried her pink hair.

"Is something wrong Naruto?" Sakura asked hinting towards a small smile before deciding against it.

"No. I'm just thinking is all…Ne, Sakura-chan, do you ever…you know…regret looking for Sasuke-teme so much?"

Sakura wasn't expecting that question at all but immediately knew the proper place to search for the answer—her heart.

"Yes, quite frequently, actually," she responded softly looking down at the ground.

"Oh?" He asked uncertainly and curiously, silently asking her to please elaborate.

He realized it not long after the attack on Konoha happened. He tried so hard to bring Sasuke back and now, was it even worth it? He just had to know how she felt about all of this. Sakura was a bit distant lately. He couldn't tell how she was truly handling this, but he figured he might as well ask anyways.

"I guess that I realized it after everything that had happened with him attacking Konoha. After all of this, I realized that honestly, you and I had focused way too much time and energy on somebody who…honestly, never wanted to be found," her gaze averted towards the wall at her left, as she continued.

"I mean, I know that we did it because we cared so deeply for Sasuke as our teammate…But I realize now that…you person can only be betrayed so much before you have to stop giving out forgiveness…Especially to someone who doesn't want to be forgiven…What about you?" She asked.

"The same, actually," he responded.

"So, how do you feel about him now?"

"What do you mean?" She asked uncertain of his meaning behind that question, though she had a hunch.

"Well, I mean you did love him at one point. How about now? Do you still love him despite all of this?"

Sakura gave a sad smile and shook her head 'no' before elaborating.

"No. I don't love him, and I never really did. I only had a crush on him and mistook that for love. I cared for him in the same way you did and confused that for love. But even that was wiped away completely after what he did…I don't hate him but I don't care for him either. It's just something that cannot do anymore."

Naruto nodded his head silently. "So you don't love him?"

She nodded her head in confirmation.

"Why love someone like him when I have others to love right here in Konoha."

She smiled at him sadly. Several moments passed before Sakura blinked forcing a stray tear to fall from her eyes.

"Sakura," Naruto whispered as he wiped the stray tear before it completely fell down her cheek.

"Naruto," she gasped his name out looking up at him, "I'm so sorry," she whispered absently.

Naruto looked at her in confusion and tilted his head to the side slightly.

"For what?" He asked causing the now fully teary-eyed woman to look up at him, her lip trembling as her eyes were filled with pain.

"Everything…I'm sorry for always treating you like I was better than you…Back when we were Genin, ya know? …I'm sorry for always hurting your feelings when all that you ever tried to do was make me happy…I'm sorry for being such a bad friend and…And I'm…I'm just…I'm just so sorry for everything!"

Naruto wrapped his arms around Sakura whom was trembling as she wept. Guilt had finally caught up with her after all of these years and honestly, Naruto didn't know what to think of her apology. Of course he forgave her, but at the same time, he honestly wasn't angry or upset about any of it anymore, especially since they had gotten so close over the last year.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan. Don't worry about it, I'm fine…really," he whispered running his hand in circles on her upper back, trying to soothe her sadness.

Sakura pulled back a bit from his embrace and looked up at him through tear-filled eyes.

"Naruto…Arigato," she whispered before resting her cheek against his chest again as her tears slowly stopped flowing.


The sounds of what appears to be a massive explosion is heard outside of Naruto's apartment. He and Sakura rush over to the window to locate the source of the sound and both widen their eyes in unison. Five Rain shinobi are seen fighting hand-to-hand combat against Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, Kiba, and Shino. Naruto's eyes darken as he looks a bit to the right to locate the source of the explosion.

The Rain shinobi had placed several explosive tags on a nearby building. Naruto's eyes narrowed into slits and he let out an angry growl.

"Dammit, already?!"

Sakura had already begun strapping her weapons holster to her leg, along with her medic's pouch to her hip as the two darted out the front door, Naruto grabbing his Hokage robe and Sakura grabbing her hitae-ate on the way out, tying it around her forehead.

As soon as Naruto and Sakura ran outside of their apartment, they are cut off from the battle by four more Rain shinobi. Both grabbed two kunai, one for each hand, and got into a battle stance.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Sakura and Naruto shouted in unison causing two clones to appear at each of their sides.

Both shinobi's clones headed off in different directions, hiding out in the shadows, as the real figures darted towards the attackers.

Sakura's gaze becomes intense as she pulls two kunai out of her holster, each of her shadow clones doing the same. Holding a kunai in each hand, Sakura and her two clones all charged towards one Rain nin, hoping to have an even cut to his throat to kill him as quickly as possible, but at the last minute, he had managed to just barely dodge them.

Tumbling in attempts to stop their speeded movements, Sakura and her clones finally slid across a dirt path, their sandals skidding in a long trail, causing a large pile of dust to form around them.

Using the dust storm as an opportunity to attack, Sakura and each of her shadow clones threw several kunai towards the shinobi, all aiming from different directions, and thus successfully hitting their target.

Naruto created a Rasenrengan and took out two more of the Rain nin. Meanwhile, the remaining two Rain nin had attempted to attack Naruto from behind. Using the Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto created another Rasenrengan and managed to kill the two shinobi. However, he fainted afterwards from chakra depletion.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed as she ran towards him. His eyes opened slightly.

"I'm fine…I just used too much chakra…"

"C'mon, let's go back home. You need more rest now!"

Sakura hoisted him up over her shoulder using her inhuman strength and began infusing her chakra into the heels of her feet as she darted back towards their apartment.

When she got inside of the apartment, she gently laid Naruto's barely-conscious form down on the bed and began checking his vitals just to make sure that he hadn't caused himself any internal damage from the overuse of his chakra.

Pressing her index and middle finger up towards his pulse point on his neck, she sighed in relief noticing no abnormalities in his heart rate.

"Naruto, you have to be more careful."

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," he responded weakly, his eyes open to slits as he struggled to contain consciousness.

"It's fine…I just worry about you, is all."

Naruto chuckled grabbing her hand that was resting on his chest, entwining her fingers with his.

"Heh-heh…You don't need to worry about me, Sakura-chan…I'll be…fine," he blinked and smiled a bit at her, "I just need some…some sleep, that's all," and with that, he let out a content and comfortable sigh as he drifted to sleep, his firm grip on her hand never wavering.

She tried to pry her fingers from his but his grip on the appendage never was released. Giving in, she laid down beside him. Soon after, sleep claimed her as well, and the two remained trapped in their slumber.


A/N: R&R!