Rain gently poured from the sky.
His breathing was shallow. He knew he would die soon.
Where am I? What happened? the boy thought as he opened his eyes to the blurry world.The Valley of End slowly came into view. Remembering what had taken place only moments before, he frantically searched the ruins for the blond. "Naruto?" he called out.
...no reply.
Panicing, he got onto his hands and knees, despite the protest of his body. He looked around, getting a better view of everything around himself. That's when he spotted it. The fainted orange blob lying a few yards away. "Naruto! Wake up, dobe!" Sasuke called out.
Once again, nothing.
He slowly crawled over to the blurry orange object, but when he was close enough, he realized that another color joined in.
Red.
It was everywhere around the blond. Sasuke looked terrified. He reached his hand out to wake the other boy. "Come on, Naruto. Let's get going home." He knew the boy would answer to that after fighting so hard for it. But as his hand finally made contact with him, Sasuke knew.
Cold.
His skin was cold.
No. I must be dreaming. It can't be. Sasuke thought. His best friend was dead. Gone on a mission, never to return again.
Lost.
Sasuke's head spun. He felt extremely sick. He laid down next to him not believing it what was in front of his eyes. Footsteps echoed through his memories. Closer and closer until he heard them stop right in front of him, but he refused to open his eyes. Then, he felt himself being picked up and put on this person's back. "No, Naruto-"
"I'm sorry, Sasuke. I can only carry one of you."
Sasuke tried to struggle against Kakashi's hold. "Then take him back!"
"My mission is to retrieve you, not Naruto!" Kakashi snapped back and began returning to the village.
Sasuke watched Naruto's body become farther and farther away until his world turned black.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Kakashi-san, what is Uchiha's condition?" a medic-nin asked as he joined Kakashi's running pace.
"Critical," Kakashi stopped and handed the unconscious boy over to the medic-nin. He turned back to the forest.
"The Hokage is asking for you. Where are you going?" the medic asked.
"Tell the Hokage...I'm going to retrieve U-Uzumaki Naruto's body." With that said, he turned and left.