Edited by the epic betas MsBenzedrine and Cereal-Killa
Chapter 1
~Pieces~
"I tried so hard
Thought I could do this on my own
I've lost so much along the way"
Bright orange and yellow clouds drifted overhead, witnessing the sun disappearing and hiding itself from the fights below. The clanking sound of kunai bouncing off each other and the harsh breathing of the two combatants was all that could be heard.
They had long since given up on words, and now both of their stamina was nearing its end.
In a moment they separated from each other, cerulean eyes met Sharingan crimson red ones, traversing the space between them as if it didn't exist.
Those blue eyes stared at their opponent reflecting their owner's reluctance to continue on this way. Naruto never having thought the situation could come to this.
Those crimson eyes stared back full of anger, pain, and… regret.
Was it only his imagination or was his enemy, his friend, as tired as the blonde felt? He wondered why the raven-haired adolescent did not use Mangekyō Sharingan of his to finish the fight.
Naruto watched, exhausted, as Sasuke smirked and just like that he could see the feint shadow his old comrade in the borderline insane man standing before him.
"Sasuke?" Naruto whispered, even while knowing the teen would not hear him from this distance. His hands moved down to grasp his suddenly aching chest.
"The Shadow Clone Technique." Sasuke stated evenly, having made a one earlier. There was an almost perfect irony in finishing his long time adversary off with his rival's favourite technique. "I've seen you use it enough times to have copied it even without the Sharingan's help," Sasuke explained in a flat voice. "I can make several now but one is all I will need."
"Why?" Naruto asked, his shirt slowly turning red. His knees gave way involuntarily and he hit the ground hard, falling on his side to watch his friend closing the distance between them. He knew that it was not an immediately life threatening strike, although if he did something to make it worse than it would easily become one.
With the Kyuubi sealed into him it would take a lot more to finish the blonde shinobi off. This was why he had offered to be the bait that would draw the trap closed, not wanting to risk losing anyone else again.
Black eyes flickered in surprise as Sasuke (Note: It has to be clear who exactly is doing what) turned around to face what he hadn't noticed. A chidori, the move that Sasuke had tried so hard to learn once upon a time, slid into his chest. The face of his once sensei hovered behind his shoulder.
He hadn't even had time to turn around to face the attack. Sasuke stared at Naruto as Sakura knelt beside him, pulling the kunai out of his chest as Kyuubi healed him and she helped. They had both grown so much since he had abandoned them, just as Itachi had abandoned him, or so he thought. But truthfully, after Itachi, he had always just been waiting for them to be strong enough.
A true smile stretched briefly across Sasuke's face, although nobody but Naruto noticed it. "D-Dobe, I suppose this is goodbye," he said, watching Sakura pause in her treatment to stare at him.
She was crying, Sasuke noticed, as she had been the day he left to join Orochimaru. That was okay, since she would eventually move on. Even though her teal eyes were wide with shock and pain now, even though her hands were trembling at her sides, she would grow stronger still and eventually… she would forget all about him.
Sasuke's eyes closed and for a moment the pair watching thought he might be dead already. Then they opened once again and they were not the red eyes of a Sharingan-user but the natural black of Uchiha Sasuke, team 7.
"You'll make… a great Hokage… one day, Na…ruto," Sasuke said, his voice already failing him. He guessed that Naruto couldn't have heard what he had said. His anger drained away even as the warmth of his dying body dissipated. "Sensei, make sure… that Naruto knows…" His voice failed as Sasuke Uchiha became no more than deadweight held up by the Jounin's hand still buried inside him and the other hand on his shoulder.
Kakashi gently lowered the body to the ground, knowing that while his former student, now being deceased, may be beyond caring Sakura and especially Naruto were not.
Kakashi himself had seen so much death growing up that he no longer had tears to cry. Instead, he bowed his head in respect and grievance. He looked up after a while, slipping his forehead-protectordown to cover his own Sharingan that he hadn't even used. He suspected that this bloodline was one the rest of the group would not want to see or hear about for a long time.
Sakura reached her fallen comrade with much stumbling in order to grieve. "Sasuke, you idiot!" she screamed, "Why did it have to be this way?" She went on for a long while, before Kakashi noticed something.
Naruto had not moved.
It made him afraid for some reason that Naruto had not even said a word, just sat there stunned as if not quite believing or maybe just now processing the fact Sasuke was gone for good.
The two rivals would never have another battle against each other again.
Team seven was broken irreversibly this time.