This is my New Year's present to everyone!
Disclaimer: I don't even own myself anymore
Warning: not much to warn you about…oh kidding…BLOOD & GORE!
We Need Better Heroes
Ruffled brown hair kept away from a childishly round face by a set of pine green goggles, a set of soft brown eyes the betrayed all that the young boy had seen in his short life and a toothy grin that didn't show much anymore.
Konohamaru stood at the gate of the village he had seen so many fight and fall for, his scarf covering the lower half of his paling face as his thin arms hung limply at his sides. He'd worn that scarf for years now and he supposed, at age twelve, he should have outgrown its odd comfort, but he kept it wrapped around his neck anyways. His shiny, unscathed Leaf village hiate was wrapped securely around his left arm; he firmly believed nothing would replace the hand-me-down goggles strapped to his forehead.
Believed.
But now he stood on the sidelines of a battle that had been building for years only to bloom right before his eyes, and right outside the nostalgic reach of the fighter's home.
Naruto dodged the flicks of fire Sasuke's jutsu threw at him, the tips of his shaggy blonde hair left burnt.
The flames flickered in Konohamaru's eyes, hadn't he told the older boy just days ago that he needed a haircut? He was pretty sure he had, while being treated to ramen by the now war-cold ANBU version of his idol.
The ground shook with an unnatural, violent jerk as Sakura's unworldly strength missed a blow. Her once soft face was twisted in an avenging grimace of disappointment, as shattered pieces of the ground flew around her.
The raven spun to block the sword aimed for his pale as snow throat and shoved Naruto back several feet with a shrug. The brown haired boy could see the blonde's eyes begin to sparkle red even from this distance.
The rosette charged for another attack, her gloved fist pulled back, begging to make contact but the raven calmly flung a pair of kunai, hitting her perfectly in the shoulder and thigh. Deep wounds, gushing crimson.
An earth shattering roar ripped through the bloody, sweaty air and chakra colored a burnt orange licked about Naruto. Konohamaru covered his ears tightly.
Sakura hit the ground hard with a light scream as she tried to yank the daggers out that were locked in skin.
Naruto flung himself at his ex-teammate with a blind rage style of fighting that revolted against the fine tuned, liquid style he had come to fight with courtesy of the ANBU.
Sasuke's black eyes widened right before clawed nails drug themselves across his flawless face, throwing him to the ground. The brunette watched as the village traitor hit the ground, folding on impact and skid countless feet before a tree stopped his momentum violently.
The vessel of the fox demon trudged through the battle's rubble to the other young man.
Sasuke looked up through bloody bangs at the blonde, whose breath was ragged and mouth set in a ferocious frown. The raven's mouth moved, the blood on his torn lips painting each word red.
Konohamaru couldn't hear his bloody words over the heat of the fire and the crackle of rapid chakra. But he saw "best friends" slip from his sinner's lips. He saw the fox's chakra die off and the blonde's shoulders slump as he collapsed to his knees before the broken raven. Naruto's shaking, seared hand reached out and hovered above the mutilated face of his ex-teammate but let it fall to the ground, useless, unable to grave the very rivets he sliced.
Three long, deep wounds ran diagonally across the Uchiha's otherwise smooth face. One laceration had drug over his eye, leaving the socket void of anything but blood, and nicked his nose, carving out a portion. While the others carved down his cheek and jaw.
The claw's wounds however were not what were killing him, they merely added to the dramatic, tragic event of his expiration.
Because Konohamaru could see clearly in the abandoned fire's light two immaculate white bones splitting through Sasuke's chest, no doubt one or more had punctured his lungs.
A fatal wound really.
The young witness almost laughed but the caustic sound of amusement was cut off by the sight of Naruto's head hanging. Was he crying? His greatest hero crying for the betrayer who had tried to kill him so many, many times?
The boy watched in sick, stunned silence as the raven stretched both hands out and cupped Naruto's face gently, more words dripped from his bloody lips and this time those destroyed lips twisted into the softest smile their world had ever seen.
Konohamaru couldn't see the blonde's face.
Naruto's arms reached out to his broken toy ex-teammate. Perhaps he was going to pick the raven up from the bloodstained ground and take him to Tsunade in a desperate attempt for him to be healed as best could be done. Or maybe he was just reaching out to hug Sasuke carefully.
A goodbye.
But a familiar shriek echoed in what was left of three's broken and patched world of wilted flowers and silly, worthless smiles.
The pink haired girl ran toward the bittersweet scene of a dying boy and his best friend, trapped in a moment of teetering on the edge of… 'don't worry', 'I forgive you', 'everything's alright'…
Standing on the verge of 'you were never my enemy; we'll always be best friends.'…
Sakura would break that moment. Shattering the glass of new-found, desperate, last minute euphoria.
Both boys turned to the girl, whose heavy chakra screamed of heart break and "pushed too far". Her fist swung viscously toward the helpless raven and the impact ripped through the air, throwing Konohamaru on his back.
Head spinning, he stared at the stars for a moment, wondering how they remained so flawless for so long. A horrified gasp filled the peaceful silence and the brown haired boy struggled to sit up, then, he kind of wished that he had stayed entranced by the magical stars.
Naruto knelt limply between his two childhood friends, Sakura's gleaming fist protruding from his back, slick with blood. Silence reigned again as the teammate; ex-teammate and unofficial pupil watched their precious hero die for an already dead man.
For some reason not one of them gave the blonde any farewell words.
Then he was gone. And finally, finally Sasuke let out a raw note of passion, one that they all knew Naruto had always wanted to hear…to prove that it wasn't all an act. His scream was a void that drew them all in and flung them into oblivion.
'Hear my pain' it droned.
Then his pained scream turned hideous, his torn mouth stretching causing more blood to pulse down his chin and the lacerations on his once beautiful face ripping as he howled in unadulterated, blind rage. He stood, smoothly drawing the sword from his dead ex-friends belt, who still hung from Sakura's arm.
The night stood still as he sliced the rosette arm at the forearm, releasing Naruto's grotesque corpse. The body hit the ground with a heavy noise that resounded with the sudden absence of Sasuke's screams.
Then the village's greatest traitor tumbled to the ground face first, bones crunching and his arm slung over Naruto's collapsed chest.
Sakura let out a small gasp of shocked pain and fainted, her arm gushing blood.
Konohamaru slowly rose from the ground and turned toward the village and began to run for help. Sakura still had a chance; he needed to get Tsunade before her student died beside the two boys she grew up with.
His scarf whipped around him as he ran faster than he ever had and he was forced to push his bangs away from his eyes every few seconds, nothing was there to hold his hair back.
A pair of well-worn goggles lay in the direct path of a stream of red blood as it reflected the starry sky, dying embers and three limp bodies of warriors…friends gone awry.
"We need better heroes."
They were liars, traitors, cold-blooded killers…broken children really.
Blinded by so many things…visions of true love, savior complexes, memories of the past.
They carried burdens that bent their backs until they broke.
They clung to ferocious self-righteousness and wielded fierce brands of retribution.
I know no one is perfect, even the greatest heroes had a flaw…but, these three, they were selfish and left behind no true lesson to learn from.
Isn't that what a hero is supposed to do?
Give you one last momentous lesson that you carry with you for the rest of your changed life, that makes you a stronger, better person at heart and when you look back o remember that person you smile with a hint of sadness but an overwhelming joy none-the-less.
Or maybe I'm just deluded, but everyone, everyone revered Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke as the new generation of heroes.
I think we need better heroes.
A/N: the last part is from Konohamaru's point of view by the by
p.s. I wuv you all! I really do, thank you so much for all my reviews and all those who have favored me! It means so much to an aspiring writer! Okay, I know, I'm in a sappy mood it's 3:19 in the morning emotions become a bit overwhelming at this time…T-T LACK OF SLEEP HAS ALTERED MY PERSONALITY!