First off, I apologize for not updating in so long. Reading some of your comments, I realized that you all were right, and that this story had gotten VERY dark VERY quickly. This is not what I intended to do with it. Usually I tend to use those elements for suspense and drama, but I definitely took them a bit too far for my liking. Realizing this, I decided to take a step back and re-evaluate where I was going to go with this and how I intended to do it. Seeing no good options, I decided to put it on the back burner for a while. I'm back now, though, and I beg your forgiveness for walking away from this for so long. I know where I want to go with this now. Originally, the idea was to have Naruto go out on his own and track down Orochimaru, and kill him in a fit of rage. Frankly, I'm discarding that idea. In fact, this will be the final chapter, with a different ending. (The other ending would have only gone for about two more chapters anyway) After this, I have a new story idea in the works that I hope will be a whole lot lighter and more enjoyable. Until then, enjoy the final chapter of "No One Else but Me".

Revelations

Shadow

It had been two days since Sasuke's death. It had been especially hard for Naruto. First he had lost Sakura, then he very nearly lost Hinata. Watching Sasuke die hadn't been easy on him either.

'At least Hinata is okay,' Tsunade thought as she looked down on Sasuke's corpse. It lay out flat on the cold metal slab. She had just begun to undress him and package up his possessions when she found an envelope tucked into his robe. It was addressed in to Naruto is Sasuke's unmistakable handwriting. Inside she could feel several sheets of paper; probably about two or three, she guessed. She could also feel a small hard object, but she couldn't make out what it was.

Looking down at Sasuke she pondered whether she should give Naruto the letter after she was done, or if she should finish the autopsy first.

"…The dead can wait."

Under normal circumstances, Tsunade would have sent an ANBU member in her stead, but she could tell that this was one she had to deliver personally. In a way, these were the last words of Sasuke to Naruto.

She raised her hand to knock, but before she could get the chance, the door opened to reveal Naruto. His eyes were puffy and red. He tried to hide it, but it was obvious that he had been crying a good deal.

'I don't blame him,' Tsunade thought. As she reached into her jacket and removed the envelope, she never broke eye contact with him.

Quickly and quietly he tore the envelope open. Tsuande shuffled her feet to leave, but Naruto made a face that pleaded with her to stay. Silently he read over the letter. Naruto's face showed no emotion as he read the note from Sasuke. It wasn't until he got to the end that his face changed. In fact, she had to look twice, but lo and behold Naruto was smiling! In fact, he was grinning wide!

Quickly, he turned the envelope upside down and they both watched as a small brass key fell out and clattered on the floor.

"What's this?" Tsunade asked, bending to pick up the key.

"No time for questions!" Naruto spat out as he swiped up the key and ran for the stairs.

"Well, where are we going!?" Tsunade shouted after him.

"To get Sakura back!"

She could see it looming up ahead, the Uchiha compound. As they approached the gate, Tsunade half expected Naruto to leap over without stopping. She wasn't disappointed, as Naruto took off and just barely cleared the fence. He didn't even seem to notice as his pants got caught on a spike atop the wrought iron fence, nor did he seem to care that Tsunade now had an answer to that age old question of "boxers or briefs".

She almost lost him as Naruto sped around corner after corner desperately searching for something. First left, then right, right, another left, another right. Going around the final corner she almost ran into Naruto. He had stopped in front of a single, isolated door, tucked away out of nowhere.

As he clumsily fumbled for the key Tsunade took a moment to try and figure out what was going on. What could Naruto have meant about getting Sakura back?

Soon enough she had her answer as the door in front of her swung open. On the ground lay Sakura, apparently under a strong gen-jutsu.

Tsunade's jaw hung agape before she composed herself and bolted forward to release the jutsu. She placed her two fingers against Sakura's forehead and whispered "Kai!"

As Sakura began to slowly sit up, Sasuke ducked back into the shadows, away from view. 'If I hadn't killed Orochimaru two weeks ago I'd have to thank him for teaching me that corpse manipulation jutsu.' He coolly smiled as he meandered away. He knew Naruto would never accept it or understand it, but this was something he just had to do. For now it was best if Naruto was allowed to believe that the body on the slab back at the Konoha hospital was really his.

He hated having to fake Sakura's death, and frame Hinata, but he knew it was the only way he could…persuade…Naruto to fight him. He knew that the only way Naruto would ever give up searching for him would be if he "saw" him die. Of course, when he used the Sharingan on Naruto just before he "died," he had switched himself out with another corpse he had manipulated to bear his likeness. It pained him to leave all this behind, but there had been so much evil in his life lately that Sasuke had nearly let himself fully succumb to it.

That's why he told himself he did all this, so he could know that no one would come after him once he entered into a hermit's life. Sasuke sighed. He wanted to say goodbye to Naruto before he left, but he knew that this was the only way. He had to isolate himself for a few years, just long enough to retrain his mind, and clear himself of this darkness that had infected his mind.

Maybe in a few years, he would return to Konoha, but for now he was off to locations unknown.

END

Okay, that does it for this story. Since this sort of is the epilogue or whatever you want to call it, I'll use right hear to clear up anything that may be confusing. Due to all of the darkness that surrounded and engulfed his life, Sasuke almost gave in and became completely dark himself. Realizing the desperation of the situation, he killed Orochimaru and settled on the idea that the only way to purify his mind once again was to live alone as a hermit for at least a few years. He knew that naruto would try to come after him and find him. The only way of ensuring that Naruto would not come after him was to make it appear as if he died in front of Naruto in battle. The only way to get Naruto to fight him would be to provoke him by staging Sakura's death (and leaving a corpse manipulated to look like her, a jutsu taught him by Orochimaru) and by getting Hinata framed for the murder. During the final fight, he used his sharingan to buy him time as he replaced himself with another corpse, again modified with Orochimaru's jutsu to look like himself. Sasuke left a "goodbye" letter to Naruto inside the jacket of the body he left behind, along with a key to the room where he had hidden the real
Sakura. He watched from a distance as Tsunade and Naruto recovered Sakura, and then left to go to his life of solitude. Perhaps one day, he might return...

Comments are greatly appreciated! Again, I appologize fo how long it took me to get this chapter out. I also apologize if this chapter sucked harder than the others. My heart just wasn't really in it because I knew the story had just gone so awry in the way I wated it to feel that I figured no matter what I did in the ending it wouldn't help it much. There is a very good posibility I will write a new story sometime soon, and I promise it will not get anywhere near as dark as this one did. Thank you all for the comments you have left me over the past chapters!

-Shadow