Kakashi was standing on the sidelines at the Valley of the End, watching as Naruto and Sasuke finally battled it out. He wanted to interfere, but knew that he couldn't. Those two were chakra powerhouses that couldn't be stopped no matter how much anyone tried. They were entering the thirty-fourth hour of the fight.

Their fight was drawing close to the end. He could feel it.

Suddenly, Sakura made her arrival beside him. Kakashi's head whipped over at his other student, taking in war-worn appearance. There were heavy bags under hardened, lethargic eyes. Multiple scars that decorated what he could see of her arms and a horrid burn mark that angrily wrapped around her neck like a noose. He hadn't seen her for three whole years and winced, keeping himself from imagining what kind of hell she had been through.

"Kakashi. A surprise to see you here," she greeted apathetically, causing Kakashi to wince. "I heard Naruto and Sasuke were fighting and came as soon as I could. Is it impossible to stop them?"

He sighed. "Unless you want to die in the crossfire, then yes. Impossible."

They lapsed into silence. An hour passed as they watched as Naruto and Sasuke attacked with animalistic vigor. Their chakras were running low and they were wearing thin from the taijutsu attacks they subjected themselves to. Eventually, they broke apart, one at each end and panting heavily. Sakura straightened.

"They're going to kill each other," she said. Kakashi's hands tightened into fists.

"Aa. They are."

"... I'm sorry, Kakashi."

He collapsed onto the ground with a yelp and immediately looked down at his body. Aside from his neck and eyes, he couldn't move. At all. He was paralyzed. Kakashi's eyes went up to Sakura, who looked unremorseful as she offered him a tired smile.

"It's only temporary, I promise." She turned towards the Valley of the End. "I know it's not my place to ask for a favor, but... tell everyone I'm sorry. Tell Naruto that I believe that he'll become Hokage, and tell Sasuke that I believe one day that he'll be happy. And you, Kakashi..."

Sakura mouthed the words to him before sprinting off.

It was like the scene was ripped from his memory before it forced him to watch it replay before his very eyes. It was like they were on the hospital rooftop again. Naruto was on the left side, arm outstretched in front of him and rasengan spinning wildly in his palm. Sasuke was coming down from the right, chidori crackling and its light engulfing nearly the entirety of his body. And Sakura was running towards the middle of them before their jutsu could clash.

But in his memory, he was able to stop them before things could go too far.

Time slowed down as he could only watch as she slid between the two of them, her front facing to the left. Naruto's arm pierced her stomach, and Sasuke's pierced her heart. Naruto began to shake, his eyes looking over the shoulder of the woman he called his best friend and saw his hand and forearm coated in her blood.

"Ah... A-Ah..."

Sasuke had a similar look on his face as his sharingan faded from existence and his gaze hypnotized by the white circle on the back of the person he'd perforated. His eyes then went to the short crop of pink hair, then to his hand on the other side of the body.

A heart was in his hand.

"...No..." he breathed. He and Naruto retracted their arms from her at the same time and lowered her unmoving body onto the ground. Her eyes were unfocused and torpid, staring up at absolutely nothing.

"Sa... Sakura-chan?" Naruto whispered. She wasn't breathing and she was bleeding out so profusely that her blood was pooling around their knees. Tears started to drip down his cheeks as he called out her name like a prayer.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" he screamed. Sasuke was frozen as he stared down at the face of the woman who once told him that she loved him.

"Sa... Sakura?" he mumbled. "No—I didn't—NO! Sakura! Wake up—I'm sorry! I didn't mean—I..."

Kakashi looked away.

::

Tsunade walked up to the entrance of the main infirmary camp and placed her hands on her hips. With the war over, she was able to help out the other medics and heal the shinobi that were injured in the last moments of battle. Sakura was with her as well, but had bolted off a couple of hours ago the moment she heard that Sasuke and Naruto were fighting at the Valley of the End. Now Kakashi was standing before, looking everywhere but her eyes. She smirked.

"What? You found my apprentice?" she asked. Kakashi's gaze sank lower.

"Ho... Hokage-sama..." he began quietly. Tsunade's face dropped instantly.

"What happened, Kakashi?"

He didn't continue, merely turning to look back behind him. Sasuke was walking up the pathway, Naruto lingering slightly behind and carrying something in his arms. Tsunade scowled at the sight of the Uchiha and his blood-stained pants before focusing on what, or who, in this case, Naruto was carrying. Her face slowly twisted into that of pure, unadulterated horror once she saw Sakura's stationary body.

"...She isn't."

"We didn't mean to, Baa-chan," Naruto said as his bottom lip began to quiver. "Sasuke and I were fighting and Sakura-chan... S-Sakura-chan..."

Her tightened his hold on her body and began to sob into her hair. Tsunade wasn't having any of that. Her hands flared a spring green as she placed them on Sakura.

Pulse: None.

"Sakura, you aren't dead."

Breathing: None.

"Sakura, I swear to god!"

Heart: Absent.

"I did not give you permission to die!"

Possibility of survival due to sustained injuries: 0.00%.

"If this is some sick JOKE I'll-"

Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder, his eyes looking the saddest she had ever seen them. Tsunade heaved in a ragged breath and withdrew her hands. She pressed a hand to her mouth and turned around.

"Take her to the makeshift morgue. We'll send her body back to Konoha along with the others tomorrow morning."

::

Her funeral was so big that it surprised even Sasuke. The remainder of the Konoha 11 attended: Shino, Shikamaru, Tenten, Hinata, and of course, Naruto. Neji, Ino, and Kiba perished in that infirmary camp bombing five years prior. Chouji and Lee both died on the battlefield in the sixth year. Outside of the Konoha 11, Sai was killed on the battlefield in the fifth year due to an ambush against the squad he was a part of. No one from the squad survived.

But aside from the typical people one would expect, many other shinobi, even civilians, attended the funeral as well. Tenten grew intrigued at the sheer amount of people who were attending and approached a teenager who was standing alone in the crowd.

"Quite a lot of people, isn't it?" Tenten remarked quietly. The teenager bobbed her head.

"I knew there would be. I think they're all here for the same reason I am," she replied. Tenten peered at her curiously.

"And what reason would that be?"

"Well... for me, at least, Haruno-sensei saved my life. It was during the attack on Konoha at the beginning of the war. An enormous centipede came after me and my baa-chan and she saved us." She smiled at the memory. "I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for Haruno-sensei. The very least I could do for her is give her my thanks one last time," she said. Tenten ran her eyes through the people. People of all ages and sizes were here. These were all her patients?

'You really are an amazing person, Sakura.'

At night, only Kakashi was left. Naruto had to leave at about sundown. He couldn't bear the sight of Sakura being lowered in her casket that he ran off, tears threatening to fall down his face again. Sasuke had to go with ANBU, as he still wouldn't be pardoned from his actions and had to receive some sort of punishment. But Kakashi...

For hours, he stared at her gravestone. A part of him still couldn't believe that she was gone or that she'd go so far as to run in between two lethal jutsu. He was there- he could've stopped her if he hadn't let his guard down when she appeared. She could have lived, but...

... but then Naruto and Sasuke would've died.

Kakashi pulled down his mask and ran a hand over his face.

"I let you down, Sakura. I neglected your potential and let you grow up by yourself. You knew that, and yet, you were still kind in your last moments," he sighed. "You didn't need to apologize. I was the one who needed to say sorry. Not you. Especially not you."

He wilted at the thought of her name being one of the many that would be carved in the memorial stone.

"I know it's not my place to ask for a favor, but... tell everyone I'm sorry. Tell Naruto that I believe that he'll become Hokage, and tell Sasuke that I believe one day that he'll be happy. And you, Kakashi..."

Sakura mouthed the words to him before sprinting off.

"... thank you for being my sensei."

Kakashi slumped forward. He didn't think that she'd be one of the ghosts that would haunt him. Rin, even Obito... He pulled himself onto his feet and checked his pocket watch.

12:04 am.

His eyes fell shut as he pushed away the urge to cry.

"Happy Birthday, Haruno Sakura."

::

Edited 1/29/18