A/N: This is based on how I think the series will end. Anyone who disagrees can let me know in their review

Broken

She had found them in the Valley of the End, fighting as they had years before, but this battle was on a different scale. She had ended her battle with the redheaded kunoichi of Taka, that had culminated with her death. Sai and Kakashi were battling the other two members of the cell. She was hidden, watching the battle between her best friend and the traitor she had once loved.

Naruto's eyes were toad-like, he was in Sage Mode. Sasuke was using the Mangekyo Sharingan. She did not need her medic training to know that this would be a battle that would be the death of one of them. She would do her best to save Naruto no matter what happened.

It would be lying to herself to say that she no longer cared for Sasuke, but she knew her feelings for the Uchiha traitor were irrational. He had proved how he had felt about her when he knocked her out and left her on a bench. Yet it was his cryptic last words that haunted her, "Sakura...thank you." Those were the words that had haunted her dreams ever since that night.

She did not move. If either one detected her presence, the battle could tilt in Sasuke's favor, which she did not want to risk. Her heart was more fickle than she had ever realized. It had once skipped a beat when Sasuke greeted her, but now it skipped a beat every time she heard the words "Sakura-chan" which was fairly often.

"Naruto," she whispered. She had referred to him without an honorific the entire time she had known him, just as she called Rock Lee, Lee-san, but now she did it because of how close they were. Every cell of her body, the chakra that rain through her body, the strong spirit within her, all of it wanted to see Naruto victorious.

"You feel the same way about him that he does about you," whispered a familiar male voice. Sakura turned around to see Sai and Kakashi behind her. Their own battles must have been costly because both were injured. Sakura scanned both of them to get an overall idea of their injuries. Neither had a severe injury, the worst of the lot was a jagged cut on Sai's bare forearm. Sakura's hands began to glow green as she healed the worst of their minor hurts. The total amount of chakra used was less than a Substitution Jutsu.

"Don't speak," she instructed them. "This is their battle." Sai and Kakashi nodded.

"This is a battle of ideals as well as one between rivals, a parallel to the battle that was here between the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha," noted Kakashi. "As their jounin-sensei, this is a battle I regret ever having to happen. My two most troublesome students are fighting to the death." Sakura shot him a dirty look as he said those words.

"Sakura-chan, you know what I'm saying is true," he added. Sakura nodded. Sasuke and Naruto had kept him busier than she had ever been because she learned quickly and soon became the Fifth's apprentice.

The battle raged on before them. Naruto's Sage Mode had expired and he had summoned toads to assist him. Sasuke was using genjutsu. One of the toads, an older one, summoned a shadow clone in Sage Mode, restoring it. Sasuke was using dark flames to defend himself, but the senjutsu was more powerful. At last they both cast their signature elemental ninjutsu, Sasuke's lightening-based and Naruto's wind-based. The impact caused an explosion. When the smoke cleared both were flat on their backs, severely injured.

Sakura ran to Naruto's side to diagnose his injuries and heal them to the best of her ability. His injuries were life-threatening. Reacting as best she could, her palms glowed green with chakra as she healed her best friend. The internal damage he had taken would require the most attention. Especially since one of his ribs had broken and pierced his lung. That damage she would heal now or he would die. It took all the chakra she could spare to heal all the life-threatening injuries the blond had endured. Once she was done, she collapsed to the ground, weakened from using so much energy.

"Naruto, baka, wake-up! I love you! Wake-up," she whispered urgently. The blonde's eyes fluttered. His hand moved and found hers. He whispered something that she could not hear. She moved herself closer to him.

"Sakura-chan," he said. His blue eyes looked weary, as if he had aged decades in the past day. "Where is Sasuke," he asked. It was then she remembered, she would have to examine him too.

"He's here, about three meters away. I will check him now," she responded. Walking over to Sasuke, she was surprised to discover him still alive, but just barely holding onto life. He was fatally hurt to a point where she could not hear him. She knelled over him as his dark eyes opened.

"Sakura," he whispered. His hand reaching to stroke the ends of her pink hair. This was the same side of him, she had seen the night, he had left.

"Don't speak," she instructed. Her palms glowed green as she examined him. He was bleeding internally and most of his vital organs were damaged. He was beyond the skill of even Tsunade; he would die within minutes.

"I don't have much time left, I know," he said. "Just let me talk now while I still can." She nodded.

"I have never looked back on my actions until now. I regret choosing to live in the darkness when in the light there were so many options. I should have stayed when Kakashi lectured me on the pointlessness of revenge. I should have stayed when you told me you loved me. I should have stayed after Naruto challenged me. I could have gone back after I left Sound, after I killed my brother, after Gaara offered me redemption. Instead I choose the dark. I have left my clan to die-out and my brother's dream unaccomplished.I could have been a jounin or an ANBU captain by my age." He paused and added, "We could have been together for a few years by now." Sakura gasped.

"When I talked about rebuilding my clan, it was always you I pictured at my side even when I was a young, naive student at the Academy," he said. "I never told you how I feel. That is my worst regret of all." His eyes closed for what she knew would be the last time.

"Sakura-chan, I love you," he said. Then a peaceful expression crossed his face as death permitted the last Uchiha to finally rest. She started crying. Naruto, who had overheard the entire conversation, walked gingerly to her and put his blood-stained orange and black jacket over his shoulders as he held her the best he could.

Sai and Kakashi watched on, unable to do a thing.